


Count to ten, take it in

by iamjasonssmirkingrevenge (mizzykitty)



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Begging, Blow Jobs, Bruce is a bit of a jerk, Bruce means well, Burnplay, Child Abuse, Creampie, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Deepthroating, Degradation, Domestic Violence, Homelessness, Humiliation, Ice Play, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd Whump, Jason Todd-centric, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Miscommunication, Prostitution, Self-Esteem Issues, Teen Romance, Underage Rape/Non-con, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:33:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22869409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizzykitty/pseuds/iamjasonssmirkingrevenge
Summary: Dick meets a seemingly homeless boy at the soup kitchen where he volunteers, and they slowly get to know each other. But Jason's hiding a dark secret - will it eventually tear them apart?
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Jason Todd/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 99
Kudos: 270





	1. Chapter 1

Count to ten  
Take it in  
This is life before you know who you're gonna be  
At fifteen

\- Fifteen, Taylor Swift

“God, look at this dump,” Jordan sneered as the school bus rolled past an abandoned building, its broken windows dark like hollow eye sockets.

“I can’t believe they’re making us do this,” Sean complained. “I mean, my parents donated like a hundred grand to some charity last year. How is that not enough?”

Dick frowned at his classmates, but kept his opinions to himself. He was the one who had convinced Mr Sloane to take them on this field trip in the first place. He’d hoped that volunteering in a soup kitchen might make his peers a bit more sympathetic to the less fortunate residents of Gotham. In retrospect, that had probably been a bit optimistic. He was still glad they were going though. Even if the experience made an impression on just one of the children who would some day be running the city, it would be worth it.

***

Dick made sure to smile at each person as he handed them their tray filled with generous helpings of chilli, cornbread and beans. He’d read that homeless people sometimes went weeks without anyone looking them in the eye, even though they were surrounded by people on a daily basis.

He was surprised though when he looked up to find a boy about his age accepting the tray from him. Dick smiled at him, but the boy avoided his gaze. He just grabbed his tray and headed to a corner table, as far away from the counter as possible. After a moment, Dick announced that he was taking a break. When the lady next to him agreed to cover for him, he slipped out of the kitchen and made his way to the table.

“Hey, can I join you?” he said as he slid into the seat opposite the boy. 

“Free country,” the boy grunted without looking up from his tray.

“I’m Dick,” Dick said.

“That’s unfortunate.”

Dick snorted. “What’s your name?”

“What d’you care?” the boy said, looking him in the eye for the first time.

Dick was surprised to see that half the boy’s forehead was covered in abrasions – like someone had pushed his face into the ground. Catching the startled look in his eye, the boy glanced away quickly, a faint blush colouring his cheeks.

“I brought you some extra cornbread,” Dick offered, sliding over a hefty square on a napkin.

The boy eyed the food, but didn’t reach for it. After a moment, he said quietly, “Why? What d’you want?”

“Uh, nothing,” Dick said. 

The boy shot him an unreadable look before he stood up suddenly. “Thanks but I’m all right.” Then he all but ran away, leaving the extra slice of cornbread and the remaining food on his tray behind.

Dick’s heart sank with guilt, knowing he’d unwittingly cost the boy the rest of his meal, which he’d clearly needed. He had no choice but to return to the kitchen with a sigh. 

It wasn’t the only child he’d see that day, as it turned out. There were a lot of them, which surprised him. He’d thought that he was wise to the streets, that he knew more about what was happening beneath Gotham’s glitzy lights and glamour than most. But he supposed that Batman and Robin only saw a certain side to the city too. He wondered if Bruce realised, and if he did, why he never talked about it. 

Dick smiled at a couple of kids that looked to be about 6 or 7 years old. Younger kids were usually with their mothers, most of whom seemed sad, scared, and worried. Some bore bruises and other marks of violence. Dick made sure to give the families a bit of extra cornbread, so they could take it away with them, as he knew the kids probably wouldn’t be able to eat much in one sitting. And then there were the kids his age - girls, boys, some a bit younger, some a bit older. They all had the same guarded looks on their faces as that first boy had. 

“The little ones are always so heartbreaking, aren’t they?” the lady volunteer next to Dick said as she dished out some beans and handed the tray to Dick. 

“Uh, yeah,” Dick said. “There’s so many of them.”

“There’s a women’s shelter down the street, and a youth shelter not far from here,” the lady said. “A lot of DV cases from the women’s shelter, as you can imagine.”

“What about the teenagers?” Dick wanted to know.

“Mostly runaways. Some people think they should just go home. But…you don’t know what they’re running from. I don’t think anyone would choose this, if they had a better option.”

“Maybe they didn’t have any choice at all,” Dick said. It wasn’t hard to imagine how his life might have gone as an orphan, if Bruce hadn’t taken him in.

“Yeah, that too,” the lady agreed. “I’m Lana,” she said.

“Dick.” 

“You don’t seem much like your friends,” she said, canting her head at the group of GA students goofing off in the back of the kitchen. “I’m not even sure why they’re here.”

“The school made them,” Dick said, omitting the part where he’d instigated it. “I think I have more in common with these shelter kids than those rich kids.”

Lana squinted at him a moment before her face lit up. “Oh, you’re that kid Bruce Wayne adopted! Your picture’s online a lot.”

Dick smiled ruefully. “That’s me.”

“Losing your parents at such a young age must have been really hard.”

Dick shrugged off the sympathy. “Yeah, but it’s all good now.”

Lana nodded. “I’m really glad for you.”

“Do you volunteer here often?” Dick asked, changing the subject.

“I try to get out here once a week, if I can,” Lana said.

“I’d like to volunteer regularly too,” Dick said. “Where can I sign up?”

“Just speak to Maria, she’ll put you down on the list,” Lana said.

“Thanks,” Dick said.

***

Dick quickly learned the names of the regulars, of which there were a few. Most of the people that came through the kitchen were new every week though, and most of them never came back. He was glad for that – he liked to think that they got the help they needed and moved on. Whether that was true or not was anyone’s guess. 

He didn’t see the boy again until he’d been volunteering for almost a month. Granted, he was only there on Sunday nights, so the boy could’ve been by on some other night and Dick would’ve missed him. This time, the boy had a big bruise on his jaw, like someone had punched him in the face. 

“Hey!” Dick greeted brightly as he handed over the tray of chicken potpie with mash potatoes and gravy.

The boy hesitated, his hands frozen in the act of accepting the tray. His eyes darted between the food on the tray, and the exit.

“Please take it,” Dick said, thrusting the tray at him. “I won’t bother you anymore, I promise.”

The boy bit his lip, but accepted the tray and hurried away without a word.

Dick sighed, but true to his word, he refrained from approaching him again. At some point in the shift, Dick looked up and the boy was gone. 

***

It was months before Dick saw the boy again, and when he did, it wasn’t good. Someone had roughed him up, and recently, judging by the proto-shiner, the raw looking cut on his cheek and the splatters of blood still evident on his ragged clothing. He didn’t even notice Dick as he grabbed his tray and shuffled over to the corner to wolf it down.

Dick was torn. He wanted to talk to the boy, to see if he was ok and if there was anything he could do to help, but he also didn’t want to scare him away again. 

“Do you know him?” Dick asked Lana, who happened to be working the same shift as him that day. He saw her sometimes, but not as often as he’d expected to initially.

Lana glanced over and nodded. “I recognise him. He’s been in a few times. I don’t think he stays at the shelter though. Most of the kids there know each other, and I’ve never seen him talking with anyone else.”

“Do you know his name?” Dick asked.

Lana shook her head. “He looks in a bad way.”

“Yeah,” Dick said. “I’m going to talk to him. Can you cover me?”

Lana’s only reply was a dismissive wave.

“Hey,” Dick said as he approached the table. He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I just want to talk. If you’d rather I leave, just say so, and I will.”

The boy eyed him a moment before he heaved a sigh. “Whatever.”

Counting that as a minor victory, Dick slid into the seat opposite. 

“I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m-”

“What do you want, _Dick_?” the boy interrupted.

“You remembered!” Dick said.

“Name like that, how could I forget,” the boy said.

“Harsh,” Dick informed him. “What’s your name?” 

“Why?” the boy said warily.

“It makes it easier to talk to you. I could make up a name if you prefer,” Dick said. “You look like a Tristan, or a Jagger, oooh, or a Diesel! Can I call you Diesel?”

“Jesus, it’s Jason, all right?” the boy said in exasperation.

Dick grinned, thrilled with the win. “Diesel is way cooler than Jason.”

“Literally everything’s cooler than Dick,” Jason retorted.

Dick laughed. “Yeah, maybe. It’s nice to meet you, Jason.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Jason said. “What’s your deal, huh, _Dick_? You chat up every loser you meet in this joint, or you got some kinda hard on for me in particular?” 

Dick cocked his head at him. “You remind me of me, I guess, ‘cause we kind of look alike. It makes me think of what might have happened to me if I hadn’t been adopted after my parents died. And I just…I wanted to help, that’s all.”

“What makes you think I need help?”

Dick raised an eyebrow and nodded at the blood splattered down the front of Jason’s shirt.

Jason followed Dick’s gaze down to his shirt. “Ah fuck,” he muttered as he wiped at the blood stains – though they were clearly set in by this point.

“Looks pretty bad – you might need stitches,” Dick said, gesturing at Jason’s face.

Jason touched his cheek and winced. His fingers came away with some bloody seepage. “It’s fine,” he muttered, wiping his fingers off on his jeans. “Why don’t you mind your own damn business?” 

“Come on, let me help you. You look like you could use a win today,” Dick said.

Jason looked Dick up and down with an assessing gaze, a slight frown creasing his brow. The scrutiny was starting to make even Dick feel self conscious, and he was not generally a shy person. Finally, Jason said, “You got cash?”

Dick blinked, slightly thrown by the question for a second. Then he said, “Not a lot, but you can have it.” He pulled out his wallet and handed over some bills. He wasn’t even sure how much it was, but from the look in Jason’s eyes, it was a lot more than he’d expected.

Jason snatched the money from his hand and shoved it into his pocket. “Jesus, don’t flash that shit around!” he hissed, eyes scanning the room warily. He stuffed the last few forkfuls of food into his mouth and stood up. “Come on.”

Startled, Dick was halfway out the door before he thought to wonder where Jason was leading him.

“You drive here?” Jason asked.

“Er, no,” Dick said. He was suddenly rather embarrassed that Alfred had dropped him off. It felt so wrong to have a butler chauffeuring him around town when there were kids in the city who couldn’t afford to eat.

“All right, I know a place,” Jason said.

Dick frowned. “Um…where are we going?”

“We can’t do it here,” Jason said. At Dick’s confused look, Jason added, “Kitchen’s run by the church. If they catch you, you’re banned. I don’t come here all that much, but it’s nice to know it’s here, if I need it.”

“Can’t do what here?” Dick said, unsure if Jason was being deliberately cryptic, or if he was just being thick.

“Here we go,” Jason said as he led them down a dark and quiet alley.

“Uh-”

Jason shoved Dick up against the dirty brick wall and before Dick could even comprehend what was happening, Jason had undone his jeans and slid them halfway down his thighs.

“Oh…no…stop! No-oh my god!” Dick’s startled gasp ended in a moan as Jason’s lips wrapped around his rapidly hardening cock. Dick had only had sex twice so far in his life. Both times were with girls, and while they had been fun, this was…something else entirely. “Oh…oh my god!” Lacking anything else to hold on to, he buried his fingers in Jason’s hair, and at the feel of the warm, living person beneath his hands, he came, _hard_.

“Holy crap. I can’t believe you just did that,” Dick said breathlessly.

Jason pulled up Dick’s pants and rebuttoned them. “Yeah, I’m pretty unbelievable,” he muttered. He stood up and brushed off his knees. “Come on.” Dick followed him to the alley entrance on wobbly legs. “See that street over there? It’ll take you back to the kitchen.”

Dick turned to see what Jason was pointing at, and when he’d turned back around, Jason was already walking away. 

“See you around, Richie Rich!” Jason called over his shoulder as he hurried away into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so encouraging, thank you for the likes and comments! I'm trying super hard to post regularly like a normal person instead of the miserable misanthrope that I am. Please enjoy it while it lasts haha!

Dick was deeply shaken by the incident. Thinking back on it, regardless of whether Jason was just thanking him for the money, or he felt like he owed it to him, it was clear that Dick had paid for sex. And that was…horrifying on so many levels. He had literally played the part of the rich douchebag exploiting some poor kid’s vulnerable situation to extort him for sex. It was so gross that the cringe factor was off the charts.

But then…then there was the sex itself. Brief though it was, it had been fucking hot. Like, maybe the hottest sex he’d ever had (not that he had much to compare it to, admittedly). He’d been so turned on when Jason had shoved him into the wall and taken control despite his protestations. It hadn’t been like that with Tansy Evans, or Sophie Spencer. The girls had been exciting too, but they’d mostly waited for him to make the moves, and apparently that just wasn’t as fun. Nope, apparently his fucked up brain wanted to be manhandled into a simulated rape situation by a teenage hooker who he may or may not have been the one raping.

“Oh god, this is so fucked up!” he groaned to the room at large.

But when he closed his eyes, he could still feel the cold brick wall against his back, smell the dampness of wet asphalt, hear the faint sounds of traffic from the city. He could feel the slick heat of Jason’s mouth, the smooth slide of Jason’s hand on his cock, the silkiness of his slightly greasy hair. 

He quickly locked his bedroom door and jumped into bed, pulling the covers over himself. It didn’t take long before he was shuddering into his hand with a quiet hiss, pleasure chasing the memory of Jason’s mouth.

When he’d cleaned himself off, he tried to settle down to do some homework, but he couldn’t sit still. It was like he had live electricity crackling under his skin. He was desperate to see Jason again, to talk to him about what happened, to try to understand what it meant. 

Maybe it didn’t mean anything, he realised with a start. Maybe Jason did this all the time, and Dick was nothing more to him than a cash source. Dick had no way of getting in touch with him to find out, either. He could go down to the shelter and hang out there waiting for Jason to show up, but it had been months since he last saw him, and it could be months before he saw him again, if ever. Dick had been volunteering at the kitchen long enough now to understand the transient nature of its clientele. If he was brutally honest with himself, the odds of seeing Jason again were slim, and he needed to find a way to live with that. He heaved a sigh and decided to go for a run to burn off his energy. There was nothing else for it. He was just going to have to get over it, and accept that he may never have the answers he was seeking.

***

A couple of weeks after he’d made that resolution, Dick was startled to catch a familiar mop of dark hair in the crowded soup kitchen. Jason looked a little less battered than usual as he inched his way down the food line. But Dick was an expert at hiding injuries, and he knew that looks were deceiving. There was no telling what marks Jason was hiding under his clothes. 

“Hi Jason!” Dick greeted with an extra bright smile as he handed a tray to him

“Hey,” Jason said briefly before he took his tray and went to his usual table.

Dick made his excuses and followed him. “Um, can we talk?”

Jason shot him a pained look. “Can I eat first?”

“Yeah, of course,” Dick said. “Can I talk while you eat?”

Jason shrugged.

Taking that as a yes, Dick sat down at the table. “Um, about last time-“

“You got more cash?” Jason said.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Dick said.

“Cash first,” Jason grunted around a mouthful of stew.

Dick hesitated, but at Jason’s insistence, he pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket and handed it to him under the table.

Jason quickly counted the bills and then pocketed them. “All right. What do you want?”

“Could we go somewhere to talk?“ Dick said.

“You got a car?” Jason said.

Dick shook his head. “Parking’s terrible around here.” 

“So what, a motel?” Jason said.

Dick frowned. “Um, I was thinking like a diner or café or something. We could get dessert, and just talk about this?”

Jason looked perplexed for a moment before he said, “Whatever you want.”

“Great!” Dick said, feeling relief wash over him. “All right, I’ve got twenty minutes left on my shift. Just wait here. I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be here,” Jason said.

***

“Coming right up,” the waitress said as she went to put their order in.

Dick smiled nervously at Jason, sitting across from him in the slightly sticky red booth of a nearby 24 hour diner. Dick had expected more of a fight on this, considering how long it had taken just to get Jason to talk to him. But Jason had waited just like he said he would, and then followed Dick without complaint to the place of his choosing. Now that he was here though, Dick wasn’t sure how to begin.

“So, what’d you wanna talk about?” Jason prompted into the silence.

“Um…do you live around here?” Dick asked, because ‘are you a hooker’ and ‘did I pay you for sex last time’ just didn’t seem like the most appropriate opening gambits.

“Seriously, that’s what you wanna talk about?” Jason said. Dick opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Jason said, “Why don’t you ask what you really wanna ask. What am I doing going to a soup kitchen? Am I homeless? What’s the deal with me?” 

Dick’s lips twitched in amusement. “Yeah, that pretty much covers it,” he admitted.

Jason snorted. “Not everyone who goes to the kitchen is homeless, you know. I live with my mom, just a few blocks from here. She just needs some space sometimes, so whenever that happens, I clear out for a few days.”

“Oh,” Dick said, though that sort of raised more questions than it answered.

Before he could ask a follow up question, Jason asked, “Where do _you_ live?”

Dick’s eyebrows raised in surprise. It was rare for people in Gotham not to recognise him. Not because he’d done anything particularly memorable, but because he was Gotham’s orphan darling, to be trotted out on slow news days for feel good puff pieces. He realised suddenly that this was a rare opportunity for someone to get to know him for him, beyond the fame and fortune of Bruce Wayne, and beyond even the shadow of the Bat. 

“I live in a house in the burbs,” Dick said. It was true – just not the whole truth.

Jason whistled softly. “Nice.”

“Yeah well, I’m adopted,” Dick said. 

“After your parents died, right?” Jason said.

Dick felt a rush of warmth. “You remembered.”

Jason shrugged.

“That’s why I like volunteering at the kitchen. It’s kind of weird sometimes, thinking about how lucky I am. Sometimes I feel guilty about it. Volunteering helps me to feel like I’m giving something back.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad,” Jason said. “Kids in the Narrows are always dreaming about that kind of thing happening to them. You’re a fuckin’ fairy tale come true.”

Dick grimaced. “Well, I didn’t ask to be. I didn’t want my parents to die, and I don’t care about being rich. If I had to give it all up so they could be alive, I would in a heartbeat.” Even the Robin stuff, he knew, despite how much that meant to him.

“Sure, I get that,” Jason said. “The people that adopted you, are they nice?”

Dick wondered how to answer that. It was too complicated to get into, and he didn’t want to talk about Bruce anyway. “It’s just a single guy that adopted me. But yeah, he’s nice.”

Jason shot him a strange look, and Dick thought that he’d finally recognised him. But then Jason said, “That’s not like…weird? ‘Cuz you know…older dudes can get weird…”

“Oh! No, it’s not like that,” Dick said quickly. “He’s great. Really. A little emotionally constipated sometimes, but I know he’s trying his best. He really cares about me, and that’s what matters.”

“Yeah well, watch yourself, is all I’m sayin’,” Jason said. “Can’t be too careful.”

To Dick’s immense relief, the waitress suddenly appeared with their orders. He had ordered a cheeseburger and a root beer float, and Jason (at Dick’s insistence) had ordered a coke and a slice of apple pie a la mode.

Jason’s eyes lit up at the food. "I never had this before," he confessed before he shoved a spoonful of pie into his mouth. “Oh my god!" he straight up groaned. 

Dick smiled, vicariously enjoying his enjoyment. It was the first and only time he’d seen Jason smile, and he had to admit, he was rather charmed by it. “This is pretty good too,” he pronounced after a bite of his burger and a long pull of his root beer float.

They were silent for a few moments as they both dug into their food. Jason finished first, having had less to begin with and bolting it down besides. “That was really good, thanks.” He shot Dick nervous smile over the top of his coke. “You know, you’re different than I thought you were gonna be. Sorry I was such a jerk to you for so long.”

“That’s ok,” Dick said. “Anyway it didn’t seem like you were being a jerk on purpose. It seemed like you were…scared of me, or something. What did you think I wanted?”

“Honestly? Lotta pimps recruit from these kinda places. Everyone knows that kitchen’s especially bad, ‘cause there’s a women’s and a youth shelter nearby. But, man’s gotta eat, right?” Jason said with a shrug.

“You thought I was a pimp??” Dick almost choked on his burger, but managed to wash it down with a large swig of root beer.

Jason snorted. “No, not you. But pimps get kids to recruit each other. They come up to you, act all nice like they wanna be your friend, give you stuff, and then they suck you in. Sometimes, you don’t even gotta say yes. They like, target you, and just grab you off the street. I ain’t some pretty girl though, so I’m probably all right. But I steer clear anyways. I don’t need some pimp fuckin’ me up and stealin’ all my money – I get enough of that shit already.”

Dick did his best to contain his unease at all these revelations. He didn’t think he would ever look at the soup kitchen or its clientele the same way again. “What convinced you that I wasn’t trying to recruit you?”

“You look too nice,” Jason said. “Your clothes are new, you got that fancy watch, and you’re too clean. Plus, you don’t got any marks or nothin’, and no offence, but you’re way too mouthy not to have any marks on ya.”

Dick frowned. He was disappointed that nothing he’d said or done had convinced Jason of his good intentions. It had all come down to what he looked like. But…perhaps that was just human nature. When he thought about Bruce’s various disguises, like Matches or Brucie, it suddenly made a lot of sense. People made snap judgments, and they saw what they wanted to see. The disguise does all the work, and all you have to do is fill in the gaps. 

Jason shifted uneasily. “Sorry, that was stupid. I didn’t mean...”

“It’s ok,” Dick said quickly. He was surprised at how attuned Jason had been to his shift in mood. It showed he paid close attention – something Dick would have to take into account when lying to him. Because like it or not, he was going to have to, at least about the Batman stuff, if nothing else. “I’m not offended. You wouldn’t be the first to call me mouthy.”

Jason huffed a laugh, but the nervous tension in his body didn’t quite ease. “You look nice, is all I meant. Like…only a moron would think you were a hooker.”

Dick flushed at the compliment, such as it was. “Speaking of prostitution, um-”

“Oh, yeah, ‘course, sorry,” Jason said, immediately sliding out of the booth. “Meet me in the bathroom.” 

“No, Jason, wait – dammit!” Dick swore as he failed to stop him from dashing off. Then his choices were to either shout over the restaurant din to try to call Jason back to the table, or just follow him into the bathroom. After a moment, he got up and all but ran after him.

The second he opened the restroom door, Jason grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the handicap stall on the end. 

“Jason, wait, no, I-”

Jason shoved him up against the tiled wall and kissed him, licking his way into Dick’s mouth like he owned the place. He tasted sweet, like coke and ice cream. Dick’s protests died on his lips as he melted into the kiss, yielding to the press of Jason’s body against his own. Jason was still gripping Dick’s wrist in one hand. He shifted to pin it against the wall above Dick’s head while he slid his other hand down Dick’s side to grip his waist possessively. Dick moaned when Jason shoved his thigh between his legs and began to grind against him.

“Quiet,” Jason warned as he pressed wet, open mouthed kisses to Dick’s throat. 

Dick whimpered softly at the command, a shiver travelling down his spine. On impulse, he reached around with his free hand and grabbed Jason’s ass. Jason flinched, muffling a yelp into the side of his neck.

“I’m sorry!” Dick said, removing his hand immediately.

“It’s ok,” Jason murmured into Dick’s skin. He grabbed Dick’s free hand and put it with the other one, trapping both wrists in one hand. Dick felt a thrill race through him at the simulated restraint. Ugh, his brain was such a sick puppy. 

He moaned again as Jason’s other hand slid down to squeeze his ass through his jeans, grinding just that bit harder into his straining erection.

“That what you wanted?” Jason breathed.

“God, yeah,” Dick gasped, feeling his orgasm building. “You are so fucking hot!”

The breath hitched in Jason’s throat and he made a small whimpering noise that kind of did things to Dick. 

“Ah, Jay, I’m gonna…” 

“Wait,” Jason said, abruptly pulling away. 

Dick whined as Jason left him hovering on a knife’s edge. But then Jason quickly unbuttoned Dick’s pants and slid them down, exposing his rock hard, twitching cock. Jason knelt and wrapped his fingers around him. 

“Oh my god” Dick cried out, no longer caring about the noise, especially not when Jason started to stroke his length and swirl a tongue over his sensitive head. The feel of those strong hands jerking him off, the image of Jason on his knees, eyes closed, licking him like the world’s filthiest lollipop.

“Oh! Jason, ah!” Dick shouted as he came explosively into Jason’s open mouth and all over his face.

Jason kept licking the come from Dick’s cock until it finally stopped dribbling, and Dick was a weak kneed oversensitive mess. Then, to Dick’s shock, Jason wiped the come off his face and licked his hand clean, too, carefully sucking every drop from his fingers. By the time he’d finished, Dick was half hard again just from watching him. But by then, Dick was more than ready to get out of that dirty bathroom. He zipped up his pants and tried to finger comb his hair a bit so he didn’t literally look like sex on legs.

“Here.” Jason reached up and fixed his hair for him. Then he straightened his shirt collar and grinned. “Perfect.”

They exited the stall just in time to run into a middle aged man coming into the bathroom. The look on his face was priceless. Dick clapped a hand over his mouth to contain a hoot of embarrassed laughter. He quickly dropped a stack of bills on their table, leaving a generous tip, and ran out of there, Jason close at his heels. 

“Did you see the look on his face?” he burst out laughing once they were outside in the parking lot.

Jason laughed - a real laugh, not a sarcastic snort or a reluctant huff, and Dick was entranced. He grinned at Jason in the reddish neon glow of the diner sign, drinking in the sight of him, the slightly swollen lips, the faint sheen of wetness on his cheeks. Even the fading bruises and healing cuts on his face seemed to make Dick’s heart beat faster and his chest grow tighter. “That was...” he shook his head, at a loss for words. 

Jason’s lips quirked up in a small smile. 

“Hey Jason, you know I ah…I really like you,” Dick said, his stomach suddenly full of butterflies. “And um, I don’t want you to think…that is…you know you don’t _have_ to have sex with me, right?” 

Jason raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, I know.” 

“Really?” Dick said. “’Cause I was worried that-”

“Don’t worry so much,” Jason interrupted. He leaned in and kissed Dick softly on the lips. 

Dick sighed with relief. “So you think we could do this again sometime, then?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jason said.

Dick grinned as a kaleidoscope of future possibilities spun through his mind’s eye. Then he suddenly had a thought. “Hey, do you have somewhere to stay tonight? Do you want to come over to my place?”

Jason shook his head. “Nah, I gotta get home. Maybe some other time.”

“Can I get your number, at least?” Dick asked.

“No phone,” Jason said, shaking his head again.

“Really? Oh…wait, I can give you one,” Dick said. He pulled one of Robin’s burner phones from his backpack, took note of the number, and handed it over along with the charger. “It’s not a smart phone or anything, but it sends and receives texts and calls. I’ll keep it loaded for you. Is that…ok?” 

Jason shrugged and pocketed the phone. “Sure, why not. Thanks.”

Then, just because he was greedy like that, Dick leaned in to capture another kiss. He could smell himself on Jason, and damned if that didn’t get him all the way to hard again. The bike ride back to Wayne Manor was going to be all kinds of fun. After they’d been making out for several more minutes, he reluctantly pulled away. “All right, we better stop or I won’t be able to get home like this.”

At the mention of home, Jason shot him a worried look. “Hey…be careful around that old guy, all right? I mean it. You can’t trust anyone.” 

Dick smiled softly at him, touched by his concern. “I will, I promise.”

Jason nodded. Then he turned and walked away, hunching his shoulders against the biting wind.

Dick considered following him, but he decided to head home instead. He could always track the burner later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally start to see some things from Jason's POV. I hope you like the super angsty chapter!
> 
> P.S. I updated some of the tags. Feel free to suggest others as I know some of this stuff can be triggery.

Jason let himself as quietly as possible into his apartment. With any luck, his mother and her boyfriend were asleep, and he could just slip in-

“The fuck you been, boy?”

No such luck, he thought with a resigned sigh.

“You _told_ me to get lost,” Jason reminded him. Like he would've slept in a doorway last night if he'd had a choice! 

“The fuck you say to me?” Ed threatened from the couch, where he’d clearly been drinking and watching TV for hours, judging by the pile of cans on the coffee table.

Jason swallowed hard. “Nothing. I was just out with some friends,” he said in a carefully neutral tone.

“You got friends?” Ed said with an incredulous snort. 

Jason didn’t bother to respond to that. He just hovered in the doorway, avoiding eye contact, waiting for Ed to finish his interrogation. He’d learned long ago not to leave the room before he was dismissed. He could feel Ed’s eyes on him though. The tension in the room made the hairs on his neck prickle. 

“You learn your lesson?” Ed said finally.

“Yeah. I’m sorry,” Jason said softly. 

“C’mere.”

Jason left his backpack by the door and went to stand in front of him.

“Let’s see them stripes.”

Jason turned around, dropped his pants, and pulled up his shirt. He’d very deliberately not looked at himself in a mirror since Ed whipped him like a dog two nights ago with his heavy leather belt. He could imagine what it looked like though. Afterwards, Ed had thrown him out of the house. Jason hadn’t been home since, but he knew better than to be gone more than two, three days max. Any more than that and he'd be missed. 

“Bet that feels good,” Ed said, giving his butt a stinging slap.

Jason bit back yelp, just about managing to contain it to a small gasp.

Ed laughed. “Go get me another beer.”

Jason exhaled softly. He pulled his pants up and went to the fridge to retrieve the beer. 

“Put it down,” Ed said. 

Jason set it on the table next to the empty ones. Ed started to unbuckle his belt. Taking the hint, Jason knelt between his spread legs. 

Ed must have caught him glancing at the bedroom door, because he said, “She won’t be back for hours.” 

Then Ed gave himself a couple of quick strokes before he grabbed Jason by a fistful of hair and pulled him onto his cock. Jason relaxed into the hold, allowing Ed to push his head all the way down, till his nose was buried in the wiry hairs at the base of Ed’s cock. He was practiced enough now not to gag when he got to this point, but then Ed deliberately thrust up into his throat, bumping against his tonsils, and he gagged hard, instinctively trying to pull off. Ed held him down for several more excruciating seconds before he finally let him up. Jason coughed, eyes streaming, trying desperately to suck breath past his spasming throat into his burning lungs.

Ed barely gave him a second to catch his breath before he dragged him back onto his cock. Jason only managed to tolerate the intrusion for a few seconds this time before he started to gag again. “Open your fucking mouth and take it!” Ed gritted, yanking hard on Jason’s hair to keep him in place as he tried to pull away, his body fighting on instinct, panicking from lack of air. When Ed finally let him up, Jason was gasping and choking, his body shaking with fear and adrenaline. 

“Jesus, how are you still so bad at this?” Ed said, slapping him hard across the face. 

“I’m trying,” Jason said desperately. 

“You’re _trying_?” Ed mocked. “Well try harder, you dumb fuck!” He slapped him again.

Jason nodded and deliberately opened his mouth wide as Ed force him back onto his cock. Ed kept at it, repeating the procedure several more times, lengthening the duration each time till Jason was gagging almost uncontrollably, saliva drooling down his chin and mixing with his tears. 

“Look at you,” Ed growled as Jason wheezed and coughed, his face dripping with spit and precum. “Fucking disgusting.” Ed grabbed him roughly by the jaw and forced him to look him in the eye. “You better learn to open up that cocksucking mouth, or you’re not gonna like the consequences. You hear me?”

“Y-yeah,” Jason said shakily.

“What are you?” Ed demanded.

“Fucking disgusting,” Jason answered.

Ed snorted. “Yeah, but no,” he said before he backhanded him. 

Jason felt the impact of Ed’s knuckles reopen the recently healed cut on his cheekbone as his head snapped sideways from the force of it. But it was his fault really, because of course that wasn’t the right answer. He was off his game - thrown off by Dick, no doubt. But he didn’t want to think about Dick just then. “C-cumrag,” he whispered, shame heating his face despite the many times he’d been forced to say it. “I’m your cockslut cumrag.”

“Yeah you are,” Ed crooned as he pressed his thumb into Jason’s cut, tearing it open wider just to watch him bleed. “Now go on. Show me what a filthy little slut you are.”

Then he mercifully let Jason get on with blowing him. Towards the end, he grabbed Jason’s head again and just face fucked him. Jason yielded to it, letting Ed do as he pleased. As long as he didn’t push in too deep, it was tolerable. When he felt the tension in Ed’s hands change, he braced himself. Ed groaned as thick, salty come splashed across Jason’s tongue. He gulped it down as quickly as it came, making sure to swallow every last drop from Ed’s dick, just the way he liked it – the way he demanded it. Then he licked Ed clean for good measure, in case he’d missed anything.

“You enjoy that, cumrag?”

“Yeah,” Jason said.

“Tastes good?”

“Real good,” Jason said.

“What do you say?” Ed prompted.

“Thank you,” Jason said.

Ed grunted. “You’re welcome, slut. Now gimme me that beer and piss off,” he said, giving Jason a shove with his foot.

Jason cracked his beer for him and handed it to him. Then he made himself scarce, retreating to the bathroom to wash his face and rinse his mouth out. When he came back out to the living room, Ed was snoring. Jason moved his beer to the table and retreated to his nest of blankets in the corner of the room. The apartment only had one room, which his mother shared with Ed and his two year old half sister Celia, so this was the best he had. He was used to it though, and anyway it was better than nothing. 

He laid down facing the wall and wrapped his blankets tightly around himself. He took a series of slow, deep breaths in an effort to calm his rabbiting heartbeat, and stop the stupid trembling in his limbs. Ed didn’t do the choking thing too often, because all that gagging and coughing got really noisy after awhile. It was usually reserved for those rare evenings when his mother wasn’t home and they didn’t have to worry about waking her up. That was probably why he never got any better at it – he just wasn’t practicing frequently enough. He was going to have to do something about that, whether he liked it or not. He started to shake harder just thinking about it, and forced himself to think of something else. He closed his eyes and tried to think pleasant thoughts. Unbidden, Dick’s face popped into his mind’s eye. Dick smiling at him impishly, Dick playing with his straw, Dick talking to him like he actually cared what Jason had to say, Dick laughing that musical laugh of his, Dick babbling on about nothing at all. Jason exhaled slowly as his shaking started to subside. Before long, exhaustion and the steady background noise of the TV lulled him to sleep.

***

Jason emerged from the shower feeling a million times better than he had going in. It was good to be clean again. Or well, as clean as he ever really felt. The hot water even seemed to help with his bruises, which felt less stiff and painful than they had the day before. The hot water, and not having slept on freezing concrete last night. Nothing like being homeless for a couple of nights to make him appreciate the comforts of home.

He exited the bathroom to find his mom and sister in the kitchen. Celia was making a mess of her breakfast while his mom ate cereal and scolded her.

“Oh, look who finally decided to come home,” Sheila sneered.

“He told me to get the fuck out,” Jason said.

“You know that’s not what he meant,” Sheila said.

“He did and you know it,” Jason insisted.

“Don’t fucking start with me,” Sheila snapped. “You want another whipping or what?”

“No,” Jason said sullenly. 

“Then shut the fuck up and get your ass to school!”

Jason rolled his eyes behind her back, but he grabbed his stuff and left without saying another word. 

He finally felt the tension in his body and the knot in his stomach ease when he got to school. It was the one place where he felt safe, like no one was going to yell at him or hit him. He didn’t have any friends, but he didn’t have any enemies either. At Sadler, he was as close to invisible as a person could get, and that was fine by him.

He doodled in his notebook during lunch, his mind wandering back to the last 24 hours – to Dick. Two weeks ago, he’d finally given in to something he’d been resisting for months now, since Ed started throwing him out of the house after their fights - the temptation to trade sex for money. That night, he’d been so desperate, so cold and hungry and hurt, and Dick had made it so easy. So he’d done it, and he’d spent that night in a hostel on an actual bed, with heat, and blankets. It was hard to regret that. This time he hadn’t been so desperate. This time he was just a filthy whore. 

He tried to tell himself that he was saving the money for his next fight with Ed, so he wouldn’t have to sleep in doorways and abandoned buildings, jerking awake at every fucking noise. But it was hard to justify this level of depravity without the immediate need. Jason wasn’t some destitute kid living on the streets with no other options in life. He had a family, and a home. He went to school. He even had decent grades. What the hell was wrong with him that he thought this was the answer to his problems? Dick had even given him an out last night, had reminded him that nobody was holding a gun to his head, that he didn’t _have_ to do this. 

Which was true, but then…what was he going to do the next time Ed threw him out of the house? He needed a place to stay. The streets of Gotham weren’t safe after dark, and it was only a matter of time before he got kidnapped, beaten, raped, or killed. If it was between that and being Dick’s whore, it was no contest at all.

He checked the phone Dick had given him. Still no messages. He’d checked it this morning too, on the way to school. Dick hadn’t given him a number to call, so he would just have to wait for Dick to call or text him first. Jesus, he thought with chagrin. He had a booty call phone.

“Fuck, I _am_ a whore!” he blurted.

Someone laughed. Jason’s head snapped up to find a couple of kids walking past him.

“That dude just said he’s a whore!” one of them said, laughing and pointing at Jason.

“Holy shit,” the other one said, giggling maniacally.

Face on fire, Jason quickly grabbed his stuff and fled to the bathroom. Fuck. He didn’t even know who those kids were. He hoped that meant they didn’t know him either, which meant they wouldn’t be spreading it around. After all, what was the point of gossiping about someone if nobody knew who they were? He really had to be more careful about talking to himself though. It was starting to get out of hand. Soon, he was going to be like those crazy people that wandered the streets mumbling weird shit to themselves.

He put down the toilet seat in the stall and sat on it. 

Right. So he was a depraved sack of shit who was willing to sell himself for money. Fine, he could accept that. It wasn’t much different to what he did with Ed anyway, so he might as well get something out of it. But if he was really going to do this, then he needed to make sure it was sustainable for the long run. There was no point debasing himself like this only for Dick to end the arrangement after a couple of encounters. Where would that leave him then? Back to scrabbling for shelter in piss soaked places. If he didn’t want that to happen, he needed to keep Dick’s interest. He had to show Dick he was getting something special out of it, like Jason wasn’t just some run of the mill hooker. 

Except that everyone knew that hookers were supposed to be experienced professionals who were good at sex. Jason wasn’t good at sex. He had only had sex with Ed, that evil shitbag. That didn’t make him good at sex, it just made him…

“A fucking disgusting cockslut cumrag,” he mumbled under his breath.

But hey, maybe that’s what Dick liked about him. Someone as gorgeous as Dick didn’t have to pay for sex, which meant he probably did it because he got off on it, on the power and humiliation. Judging by his reaction last night in that bathroom, he’d very much enjoyed watching Jason blow him on his knees and lick up his come.

Well…what did Jason expect, really? You act like a whore, you get treated like one. It wasn’t rocket science. At least he could use it to his advantage. 

So, skill at sex was one thing. What else did he know about whores? Whores were dirty, and had diseases, and didn’t feel anything for their clients. At least, that was the stereotype. Whether that was true or not was beside the point. It was all about perception. If Jason wanted to differentiate himself, he’d have to make a plan. He had to show Dick that he was – what were all of the things? He wrote them down in his notebook.

1\. Not Good but enthusiastic (give him whatever he wants)  
2\. Not Dirty (try not to be so fucking disgusting every time he sees me)  
3\. Not Diseased (free clinic - assuming Ed hasn’t given me something gross)  
4\. Not Heartless (actually do like him, so just tell him)

If he managed to convince Dick he was worth having around, maybe Dick would want to continue the relationship. It wouldn’t fix everything wrong in his life, but at least it would solve his short to medium term accommodation problems. 

He closed his notebook and sighed.

“Fuck me.”

***

Dick huffed in frustration as he erased the 4000th message he’d typed to Jason in the last 12 hours. Now that they’d established that Jason didn’t have to have sex with him just because Dick was helping him out, they could start to build what he hoped might become a legitimate relationship. But how on earth was Dick meant to do that?

“Something the matter, Master Richard?” Alfred said, glancing at him from the driver’s seat.

Dick sighed. “I have this new…friend. I want to send him a message, but I don’t know what to say. It’s kind of important we get off on the right foot, you know?”

“I do indeed,” Alfred said. “How about, a simple hello?”

Dick blinked at him for a second before grinned. “Alfred, you’re a genius!”

“I’m well aware of that, Master Richard,” Alfred said with a smirk.

“Hi J” Dick typed, and hit send.

A few seconds later, the reply came.

“Dick?”

“Yeah! How’s it going?”

“Good”

“You free tomorrow night?”

There was a long pause. “I can be”

Dick bit his lip. “Do you want to come to my house?”

There was a very long pause this time. “Seems far. Is there a bus?”

“I can pick you up. I have a bike.”

“How’s a bike gonna help?”

Dick laughed. “A motorbike”

“Oh. Where when?”

“After school. Where do you go?”

“Sadler”

“I’ll google it. See you tomorrow! ☺”

“☺”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. Work kind of swallowed me whole for a couple of weeks. I hope you like this update, I was a bit nervous about it. *hands*

Dick could hardly contain the fluttering in his stomach by the time he pulled up to Sadler High, deep in the heart of the Narrows. He’d never been to the school before, and was shocked at the state of it. If he hadn’t known it was a school, he might have mistaken it for one of the abandoned buildings in the area. He spotted Jason sitting on some concrete steps, writing in a notebook.

“Jason!” he called.

Jason looked up at the sound of his voice and waved. He stuffed his notebook into his backpack and made his way down the stairs. “Hey, you found it.”

Dick shot him an apologetic smile. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic was crazy. But I’m here now! Are you ready to go?”

Jason nodded.

Dick noticed that the gash on Jason’s cheek had opened up again, but he decided not to ruin the mood by mentioning it. After all, the last time he had, Jason had snapped at him. Instead, he grabbed an extra helmet from one of his bike compartments and handed it over. “Here you go.”

Jason put it on and Dick reached over to adjust the strap for him. He was only slightly embarrassed to admit that when his knuckles grazed the soft skin below Jason’s chin, his cock twitched in interest. He tried to think unsexy thoughts, but knew it would probably be a losing battle once he had Jason snuggled up behind him on the bike. Oh well – there were worse things.

“Looks good,” Dick said, and was pleased to see Jason redden slightly. “All right, have you ridden one of these before?”

Jason shook his head.

Dick straddled the bike. “You’ll wanna get on behind me, and sit here,” he said, indicating the space for the second rider. “Put your feet here,” he said, pointing at the foot rests. “And hold on tight. We lean into curves, not away. When I lean, lean with me. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Jason said. He got on the bike behind Dick and wrapped his arms around his waist. 

Dick swallowed hard at the length of Jason’s body pressed against his back. It was going to be a long ride back to the manor.

***

By the time they arrived at the manor, Dick was relieved that his hard on had finally subsided to just semi hardness again. At least he wasn’t going to have to walk Jason into the house with a massive unconcealable boner tenting his pants.

“So what’d you think?” Dick said.

Jason took off his helmet and handed it to Dick. His face was flushed, and his eyes were bright with excitement. “That was…awesome.”

Dick grinned. “Come on, I’ll show you the house.”

Dick closed the front gate with his key remote. Then they left the bike and helmets behind as they walked up the short driveway to the front of the house. As soon as they rounded the hedges, he saw Jason’s eyes widen and his jaw fall open.

“Oh my god…”

“Wait’ll you see the inside,” Dick said. He opened the front door and let them into the foyer.

Jason gasped at the sight of the giant crystal chandelier hanging over the sweeping double staircases.

Dick smiled at the open wonder on his face. 

“What is this place?” Jason asked, his voice hushed in awe.

Dick’s smile faltered a bit. “I um…I probably wasn’t super honest with you before. So…cards on the table, this is Wayne Manor, and I’m Bruce Wayne’s adopted son, Dick Grayson.”

Jason blinked at him. “Bruce Wayne? Like…the richest guy on earth, Bruce Wayne?”

“Well, in Gotham maybe, but I don’t know about ‘on earth’,” Dick said with a laugh. “There’s that Amazon guy, Oliver Queen, and I dunno, the Queen of England? Oh, Saudi sheiks! Oil money, am I right?”

“What?” Jason said in bewilderment.

“I’m sorry, that’s not funny,” Dick said, sobering. “I know I should’ve told you last time, when you asked where I lived. I just…I wanted you to get to know me first, the real me, not ‘Bruce Wayne’s adopted son Dick Grayson’. You know?”

“Um…sure…” Jason said.

“I know, it was a shitty thing to do, and springing it on you like this probably didn’t help,” Dick said. “I just…I really like you, and I hope I didn’t freak you out.”

“Uh, no. You don’t gotta worry about me,” Jason said. “I like you too. A lot.” He flushed red up to the tips of his ears. “You’re really nice. And um…and hot. Really hot.”

Dick grinned. “I think you’re really hot too,” he said as he pulled him into a kiss. 

Jason kissed him back eagerly, his hands sliding into Dick’s hair to hold him in place as he deepened the kiss. They made out for several more indeterminable minutes before Jason ran a hand down Dick’s chest to cup him through his jeans.

“Tell me what you want,” Jason breathed against his skin as he pressed urgent kisses to his neck. 

Dick squirmed against Jason’s hand, his body instinctively seeking more friction. “Can you do that thing…with your mouth…please?”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed readily. 

“Not here!” Dick said, grabbing Jason’s shoulders because he seemed like he was about to get down on his knees and do it right there in the open foyer. “Let’s go up to my room.”

“Oh, sure,” Jason said.

But as Dick turned towards the stairs, he remembered he’d left his backpack (and phone) in his bike compartment. “Oh, wait a sec. I forgot my backpack in the bike. Just gimme a minute, I’ll go get it.”

Jason grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Don’t worry, you can pay me after.”

Dick froze. “ _What?_ ” 

Jason paled. He let go of Dick instantly, his demeanor changing on a dime as he seemed to shrink into himself. “Uh…I mean…you can do it now, if you want, obviously. Like, if that’s part of it for you. Whatever you want.”

Dick could only stare at him, his mind struggling to process what Jason was telling him. 

“What is he talking about? Have you been paying him for sex??” a voice boomed across the marble foyer.

Dick watched in horror as Bruce, dressed to the nines in a suit and tie, stepped around the corner and into the entryway. Oh god, how long had he been listening?? 

“Well?” Bruce demanded. “Someone answer me, now!”

Dick opened his mouth, but nothing came out. There was no way to explain this without everyone involved looking really, really bad.

“We only did it twice,” Jason blurted. 

Dick cringed. That was not the right thing to say. He could feel Bruce’s rage kick up a notch or four. 

“What??” Bruce snapped. 

“W-well Dick offered, and I needed the money, so...” Jason trailed off.

“That’s not…I didn’t…oh my god…” Dick covered his face with his hand. 

“What’s your name?” Bruce barked.

“Jason.” At the glare from Bruce, Jason added, “T-Todd.”

“How old are you?”

“Fourteen.”

“He’s fourteen??” Bruce hissed at Dick. “How do you even know this boy? Does he go to your school?” 

“Uh, no, we met at the soup kitchen, the one I’ve been volunteering at,” Dick said sheepishly.

Bruce’s forehead vein started to pulse dangerously as his eyes bulged out of his head. “You _paid_ a homeless child for sex? _Twice??_ ” 

“Well no, I mean, not exactly…“ Dick spluttered, knowing full well he was only making things worse. 

“I’m not homeless!” Jason decided to interject, completely unhelpfully.

Dick glared at him to shut up. 

“I’m not!” Jason insisted. 

Bruce face palmed. “If you’re not homeless, then what were you doing at a soup kitchen, and what do you need the money for? Where are your parents?”

Jason looked perplexed, like he didn’t know which of Bruce’s barrage of questions to deflect first. “They’re…I dunno, it’s just…people need money for stuff, all right?” he said finally. “Look, the point is, I’m not homeless, or dirty, and I don’t have any diseases or nothin’. I checked.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and shoved it into Dick’s hands. “See?”

Dick flipped open the paper, saw the logo of the free clinic at the top of the page, and quickly snapped it shut again. “Oh my god…” He didn’t think it was possible, but yep, things were now a thousand times more awkward.

“I knew…someone like me…you’d probably be worried about that, so…” Jason trailed off as he fiddled anxiously with the strings of his jacket hoodie.

“Why would I be worried about that?” Dick asked incredulously. “You told me you didn’t want to be a hooker.”

“No, what I said was, I didn’t want a pimp,” Jason countered.

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose like he was trying to push his pulsing vein back in. “Quiet, both of you!” He turned to Dick. “Did anyone see you pay this boy for sex?” 

“I didn’t pay him for sex!” Dick said in exasperation. “But no, I don’t think so…”

“No,” Jason said.

“Did anyone see the two of you _having_ sex?” Bruce asked.

“No,“ Dick said

“Yeah,” Jason said.

Bruce glared at them. “Which is it?”

“The bathroom guy,” Jason hissed at Dick.

“Oh my god,” Dick groaned. “Yeah, one guy.”

“You had sex. In a public restroom?!” Bruce grated, enunciating each word like it was a personal insult to him.

Jason winced. “That was my fault,” he confessed. Bruce’s eye twitched dangerously. “It’s just that there wasn’t-”

“Stop! Stop talking,” Bruce commanded. 

Jason shut his mouth with an almost audible snap.

Bruce took a deep breath and exhaled long and hard. “Look, Dick, I really don’t think homosexuality is as stigmatising as it used to be. But in future, if you feel that you absolutely must pay for sex, please ask, and I’ll provide you with the number of a _discrete_ service that only employs consenting adults. Under _no_ circumstances are you to troll the streets for underage hookers again, are we clear?”

Dick covered his burning face with his hand. “Yes, sir.”

“And under no circumstances are you to have sex in public again, are we clear on that?”

“Yes, sir,” Dick said miserably.

“And you, boy!” Bruce growled at Jason. “I don’t care how badly you need the money, you will not exchange sex for money again! Is that clear?”

“Y-yeah,” Jason said.

“Good. Now get out of my sight, both of you!” Bruce snarled.

Dick almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to get to the stairs, Jason close behind him. When they were halfway up the stairs, Dick heard Bruce bellow from below, 

“And for god’s sake, USE CONDOMS if you’re worried about STDs!!” 

***  
Dick closed his bedroom door and rounded on Jason. “Let’s get something straight, I was _not_ paying you for sex!” he exploded.

Jason flinched, taking a step back away from him. “Well…then why’d you keep givin’ me money?”

“Because I was trying to help you!” Dick said, throwing his hands in the air. 

Jason frowned. “You _were_ helping me.”

“No, that’s not…” Dick groaned in frustration. 

Jason held his hands up in a placatory gesture. “Ok, you _weren’t_ helping me," he said. "Is that…? I don’t know what you want me to say here.”

“I don’t _want_ you to say anything!” Dick said.

Jason blinked at him in confused silence.

Dick rolled his eyes. “Well, I mean, say _something_!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t…” Jason licked his lips nervously, his eyes darting around the room. “Look, just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it. Whatever you want, I swear.”

Dick sighed. “I don’t want anything from you.”

Jason looked stunned for a second, and then his gaze slid to the ground. “Yeah, I get that. I…I guess I should go.” He turned and made for the door. 

“Wait!” Dick said. “I didn’t mean it like that. Don’t go. Just…sit down. Please?”

Jason hesitated, but after a moment he sat down on the bed. 

Dick exhaled slowly. “I just…I thought we were going out. You know, like dating? We talked about it last time, and I thought I’d made it clear that the money wasn’t for that, that it was just to help you out. I thought we were on the same page! How could you still think that’s what was happening?" 

“I dunno, I never done this before. I guess…I didn’t know what it was supposed to be like,” Jason said. 

“You’ve never done this before?” Dick asked incredulously. “Why would you start now – with me?”

“I dunno,” Jason said to his shoes as he fidgeted with his hoodie strings. “I thought you were offering, and I figured I could use the money. You seemed like a nice guy, like you probably weren’t gonna fuck me over. So you know…why not?”

Dick frowned. There was so much to unpack there that he didn’t even know where to begin. “Because you shouldn’t, that’s why,” he said finally.

“I guess,” Jason mumbled.

“You’re not gonna keep doing it, are you?” Dick said. “Because…I mean, if it’s about the money, I can help you with that. You don’t have to do this, ok?”

Jason looked up at him in surprise, and then away, his face flushing. “You don’t gotta do that. It’s fine, I won’t do it anymore.” He snorted ruefully. “Wasn’t like I was any good at it anyway.”

“Well…I wouldn’t say that,” Dick said. “But I’m glad you’re not going to do it anymore. Can I ask…is it your mom? Does she need help or something?”

Jason shook his head. “Naw, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” After a moment, he said, “You really thought it was ok?”

“It was way more than ok,” Dick said seriously. 

Jason’s lips twitched. “Yeah?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dick said, waving his hand dramatically. 

Jason smiled shyly at him, which seemed kind of incongruous to Dick given all the very R rated things they’d already done, and in public no less. But it was also rather charming. 

“So…I get that you weren’t paying for it, but howcome you thought we were dating?” Jason asked.

Dick blinked, somewhat caught out by the question. "Well...because. We…um…I mean, we….oh my god." Realisation hit him with a jolt and he couldn't help but grimace. "You're right. We haven’t been dating, we’ve been hooking up – and in like, really gross places."

"Basically, yeah,” Jason said with a shrug.

Dick sat down next to him with a sigh. "God, no wonder you thought that’s what the money was for. I'm such an asshole."

"No you're not," Jason said. "You're like the nicest person I know."

Dick squinted at him. "I’ve been using you for sex and I'm the nicest person you know?"

"You weren’t using me. I wanted to do it. If anything, I was using you, for the cash,” Jason said. 

"It's not your fault," Dick said. After a moment, he sighed. "Maybe it’s no one’s fault. Look, how about we just call it a misunderstanding, and start over?"

Surprise flitted over Jason’s face before he looked down at his hands in his lap. "Look, you don’t gotta do that, all right? It’s ok if you don’t want to see me again. I totally get it." 

Dick frowned. “To be honest, it’s gonna take awhile for me to get over how skeevy this whole thing has made me feel.” He twitched in a small involuntary shudder. “But…the thought of never seeing you again just makes it so much worse.”

Jason glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Really?”

Dick smiled. “Really.”

After a moment, Jason extended his hand. “Jason Todd, _not_ a homeless hooker. Nice to meet you.”

Dick grinned. “Dick Grayson, _not_ a creepy john. Nice to meet you too.”

Jason returned the smile. "I can't believe you’re _the_ Dick Grayson. I mean, your dad is Bruce Wayne. That’s just insane.”

“Trust me, it took a while to wrap my brain around it too,” Dick said.

Jason grimaced suddenly. “Oh god, Bruce Wayne called me a homeless child.”

“Well, to be fair, you were very clear about not being homeless,” Dick said.

Jason covered his face with his hands. “Great.”

“Hey, at least your dad didn’t offer to hook you up with an escort service because he thinks you troll the streets soliciting underage prostitutes for sex!” Dick said.

Jason snorted, and then outright laughed at the absurdity of it. Dick grinned, and before they knew it, they were both laughing hysterically.

“His f-face when he found out about that guy,” Jason gasped breathlessly between gales of laughter.

“Public restroom?!” Dick bellowed, mimicking Bruce’s outrage before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

“C-condoms!!” Jason cried.

“S-stop!” Dick gasped, gripping his sides as tears ran down his face. “Ow, it hurts!”

“Oh my god,” Jason wheezed as he tried to stop laughing long enough to get his breathing under control.

Dick collapsed back on his bed and let out a long breath as the giggles slowly subsided. Jason joined him a moment later, and they laid side by side, staring up at the ceiling.

“I can’t believe you’re a billionaire,” Jason said. 

“I can’t believe you trumped my secret,” Dick said. “That never happens to me.”

“I can’t believe you thought we were dating,” Jason said.

“I can’t believe you’re only fourteen!” Dick said.

Jason blinked in surprise. “Why, how old are you?” 

“I’m sixteen,” Dick said. “I really thought you were older.” Even though Jason was shorter than him, he’d been so tough and smart and sex-wise, Dick had thought they were at least the same age. Dick was a junior, and honestly, it made him feel a bit pervy to be having sex with a freshman – it was like the cherry on top of the creep cake.

Jason frowned. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Dick said. “It’s just…you know, a little creepy. Not gonna lie though, the sex was kinda hot.” 

Jason turned his head to look at him. “Really?”

Dick grinned and turned over on his side to face Jason. “So hot. Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Jason mirrored his pose. “Which part?”

“All of it, literally every single thing. You’re crazy good at sex,” Dick insisted. 

“Yeah?” Jason said, ducking his head shyly.

“Yeah,” Dick confirmed. 

“You uh…you still want me to do that thing…?” Jason said with a heated look that sent all of Dick’s blood rushing south. 

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Dick groaned. “But…do you think we should do something other than have sex? Like…maybe something date-y?”

Jason bit his lip, which just drew Dick’s attention to his mouth, which really wasn’t fair given how hard he was trying to resist temptation. “Well…we could just do date stuff after…”

Dick thought about it for second before he smirked. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” He got up to lock his bedroom door, and then returned to the bed. 

Jason kissed him, running a hand down his side to grip his hip almost possessively. Dick really didn’t think he should be as turned on by that as he was, but what the hell. He reached over to do the same, but before he could touch him, Jason grabbed his wrist and rolled over on top of him, pinning him to the bed. 

Dick moaned softly as he writhed against Jason's wiry lean body, delighting in the weight and feel of it pressing him into the mattress. He felt open, and vulnerable in a way he never allowed himself to be in any of his guises.

It wasn’t long before Jason was kissing and mouthing at his neck and chest. A well placed nip at his throat sent a shiver down Dick’s spine. A tentative tug on his t-shirt, and then Jason’s hand was sliding up under it across the planes of his stomach. The lightest brush of fingertips over Dick’s nipples and Dick arched into the touch with a desperate whine.

“Take off your shirt,” Jason said, sitting up for a second.

Dick was only too happy to comply. He pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it off the bed before settling back down.

Jason gazed down at him in wonder, his fingers trailing almost reverently over the well defined muscles of Dick’s chest. Then he bent down and slowly traced his tongue over the constellation of little white scars decorating Dick’s tanner skin. 

For a second, Dick thought he might ask about the scars, which had been caused by shrapnel from an exploding car bomb that he’d gotten just a bit too close to. But Jason didn’t ask, he just seemed to accept them as part of him. No, not just that. He seemed captivated by them, licking and kissing each one with enthusiasm, like he was worshiping Dick’s scars with his tongue 

“God, you’re so… _perfect_ ,” Jason murmured against his skin. 

“Come up here and say that again,” Dick said, hoping to distract him before he got to the bullet wound in his shoulder that would almost certainly elicit uncomfortable questions.

Jason shifted up to kiss him. “How are you so fucking perfect?” he breathed against his lips. 

“You’re pretty hot yourself,” Dick said, and was surprised to feel Jason shudder against him.

“Disgusting,” Jason mumbled.

“What?” Dick said.

“Hm? Nothing,” Jason said. Then he bent down and licked the very tips of Dick’s nipples, one after the other, and Dick gasped, the twin sensations shooting straight to his cock. 

Dick writhed beneath the feather light tongue flicking over his nipples, shamelessly grinding himself against Jason’s thigh. “Jay, can you…please?”

“Yeah,” Jason said with a smirk. “Take off your pants.”

Dick didn’t need to be told twice. He kicked off his jeans and boxers and shifted himself up the bed into a half sitting position so he could watch as Jason started to stroke his cock with firm, steady friction. Despite being shorter, Jason’s hands were bigger than his, and the extra coverage was a level up on his own hand. It felt so good, he thought he could come just from that, but then Jason knelt between his legs and slowly, gently licked his balls.

“Oh!” Dick exclaimed, twitching in surprise at the novel sensation. It was weird…but nice…a little sensitive…but ooh. His brain ping ponged back and forth as it tried to categorise the experience. But as Jason’s tongue swiped over a particularly sensitive area, he threw his head back and moaned loudly. “Ah…please, Jason,” he panted impatiently.

“Sorry,” Jason said, as though there was anything to be sorry for. His head bobbed up into Dick’s field of view. Then he wrapped his lips around Dick’s achingly hard cock and oh so slowly swallowed him down. Watching his cock disappear into Jason’s mouth and simultaneously being enveloped by that hot wet heat was almost enough to make Dick come. But he held himself back, staving off his orgasm as Jason pushed him closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy with his deft hands and talented tongue. Then Jason reached up and tweaked a sensitive nipple, and that was it. Dick arched off the bed, his hands fisting in his sheets with the intensity of his orgasm. 

As before, Jason drank him down to the last drop, lapping at Dick’s sensitised skin as he twitched and moaned through the aftershocks.

“How do you do that?” Dick asked in amazement.

“Do what?” Jason said absently. He sat up and licked his lips, suddenly looking a bit anxious. “Do you uh…want me to go now?”

“Uh, no?” Dick said quizzically. “Why don’t you come here.”

Jason crawled back up the bed and laid down next to him.

Dick rolled over and cuddled up to him. When Jason didn’t object, he started to draw lazy circles on his chest with his fingers. It struck him that he was naked, and Jason was still fully clothed, but he didn’t mention it. “You know, that’s three times now that I’ve gotten off, and you haven’t. I think it’s only fair I return the favour,” he said, trailing his fingers down Jason’s chest.

Jason grabbed his hand and sat up. “You don’t have to, really.”

Dick sat up too so he could look him in the eye. “I want to,” he said firmly. “I could…give you a blow job. I haven’t done it before, so it might not be as good as yours, but I’m a pretty quick study.”

“N-no!” Jason blurted, and Dick was surprised to sense something like alarm in his tone. 

“Why not?” Dick asked.

“I just…I don’t want you doing that. Not for me.” Jason shook his head. 

Dick frowned. “Ok, well…what can I do for you then?”

Jason thought about it for a moment before he unzipped his pants and laid back down on the bed. “Just…talk to me,” he said as he loosely fisted his own cock and started to stroke slowly.

Dick leaned down and kissed him, running his hands over Jason’s chest, though he avoided his nipples just in case that was too much stimulation. “You’re amazing, you know that?” he breathed. 

Jason shivered against him as he made a soft noise of contentment.

“I have legit jerked off to you now like, a hundred times, at least,” Dick said. “I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re just so…unexpected, and smart, and funny. And hot – did I mention hot? Because you’re crazy hot.”

“A-am I good?” Jason whispered, so softly Dick almost didn’t hear him. 

Except that he had most definitely heard that right. Dick looked down at him in surprise, and was startled to see the intense vulnerability in his eyes. “Are you kidding me? You’re _so_ good, Jason. You always seem to know exactly what I want, exactly what will turn me on, or push me over the edge. It’s incredible. You’re so good it scares me.”

Jason let out a ragged breath as his hips started to stutter.

“You’re so good, so unbelievably hot and amazing and…I can’t believe you’re still here after all that stuff today. I can’t believe you still want to be with me. It’s awesome, because...I really like you, and I want to be with you, too,” Dick said.

Jason came with a soft gasp, his eyes tightly closed. Dick smiled at the sight of him, mouth open, body taut with tension as he spilled into his own hand. As the tension left his body, he sank bonelessly to the bed.

“That was…wow,” Jason breathed. “No one’s ever…” He averted his gaze as his face flushed pink. “I’m sorry if that was weird.”

“It was great,” Dick reassured him. “Everyone likes being told how awesome they are during sex, especially me. Take note.” He shot Jason a mischievous grin.

“I will,” Jason said with a small smile. Then he looked down at himself and wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Ugh. No wonder he hates this.” 

“Who?” Dick asked as Jason got up to clean himself off in the en suite bathroom. When Dick didn’t get an answer, he grabbed some tissues off his nightstand and gave himself a cursory wipe before he pulled his boxers and t-shirt back on. Then he straightened up the bed a bit to make laying on it more comfortable. 

When Jason returned, he’d put himself back together and was once again fully clothed. 

“Who hates what?” Dick pressed.

“What?” Jason sat down on the bed next to him.

“You said ‘no wonder he hates this’. No wonder who hates what?” Dick asked, for what he felt was the millionth time now.

Jason shook his head. “I dunno. I say weird stuff sometimes. Brain to mouth filter’s a bit broken. Doesn’t mean anything. So…what date stuff do you wanna do now?”

Dick frowned, but he decided to let it slide. Next time, he vowed he would get an answer. “I was thinking we could play video games. What do you think?”

Jason’s eyes lit up. “Really? What games you got?” 

“Like, all of them,” Dick said with a grin. “Come on, let’s go to the game room and I’ll show you.”

“Game room??” Jason said, and Dick couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re gonna love this.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. This chapter was really intense to write, so it required a lot of focus, and honestly, it's been so hard to focus lately. I hope you like it though, it takes dark to the next level.

It was late when Jason finally snuck into his apartment. Dick had gotten him a taxi home. It had probably cost an arm and a leg, but as the Waynes were billionaires, he hadn’t felt so bad about it. 

The apartment was dark, but he paused on the threshold and held his breath, listening for the faintest sounds. After a moment, he concluded that everyone was asleep. With a small sigh of relief, he crept to his corner and curled up in his blankets.

He still couldn’t quite believe what had happened that day. To think that Dick wanted to be with him – really be with him, not just pay to fuck him! It was mind blowing. It made no kind of sense whatsoever, but for the moment, he was riding so high that he didn’t have the wherewithal to second guess it. 

When he closed his eyes, he could still feel the ghost of Dick’s hands trailing over his chest, and the whisper of Dick’s lips against his. He remembered how soft Dick’s bed had been, and how fresh and clean everything had smelled, including Dick himself. At some point, he’d given in to the urge to bury his nose in the soft, glossy strands of Dick’s hair. Dick had smelled like coconut shampoo and just the faintest whiff of sweat. It had been intoxicating. But nothing had been more erotic than Dick’s voice in his ear, saying things that no one had ever said to him before. He’d never had such an intense and pleasurable orgasm…pretty much ever. It had been nothing short of exhilarating. 

Well, for Jason, anyway. He wasn’t sure how Dick had felt about it. Frustrated, maybe. It was obvious that Dick wanted to touch him, and probably fuck him, too. And why shouldn’t he? He was well within his rights – if they really were dating. He was lucky Dick was being so patient with him. But even a nice guy like Dick had his limits, and if Jason didn’t give him what he wanted soon, Dick was going to either take it by force, or just dump him altogether. 

The irony, of course, was that Jason would’ve happily done anything Dick wanted, if he could’ve. The problem was (as always) Ed - or rather, their ‘relationship’, and the incriminating evidence of it that he left all over Jason’s body on a regular basis. Dick could never see any of that, ever. So if Jason wanted to keep Dick happy _and_ keep his relationship with Ed a secret, he needed to heal up, and more importantly, stop accumulating more bruises and other marks. That meant keeping Ed on an even keel. He sighed. It wouldn’t be easy, but he could do it. He just had to focus on what’s at stake. As long as he kept his mouth shut and his mind on Dick, everything was going to be fine.

***

Sometime later, he was startled awake from a deep sleep. He was consequently groggy and disoriented, unclear why there was movement, or hands roughly pushing and pulling at him in the dark. It wasn’t until something penetrated him that his brain finally woke up. 

“Ah!” he yelped at the feeling of a dry finger pushing into him.

Ed grabbed his hair and smashed his face into the threadbare carpet covered concrete floor. “Quiet! You wanna wake the whole house up?”

Jason tasted blood and gathered that his lip had split. It irked him to know that he’d inadvertently acquired yet another stupid mark on his face. But now that he realised what was happening, he knew what to do, particularly if he wanted to keep Ed sweet. 

“Sorry,” he said. Then rolled over onto his stomach and went limp, relaxing all of his muscles as much as possible so it would be easier, and Ed wouldn’t have to hurt him as much. 

“Too dry? I’ll make it better.” He heard Ed squirting lotion into his hand in the dark. The scent of fake vanilla hit his nose a second later, followed by the invasive feel of Ed’s thick fingers roughly shoving globs of cold, wet lotion into his ass.

“Thank you,” Jason said unprompted. What had he done to deserve such consideration? Maybe it was the unsolicited apology. He’d have to remember that for the future.

“Oh, you’re welcome, baby,” Ed purred. He thrust experimentally a few times, the excess of lotion making him slip. Then on a hard thrust, he finally pushed past that tight ring of muscle and buried himself to the hilt.

Jason exhaled slowly. It still hurt, but he was pretty used to it by now, and the lotion made it so much easier. He closed his eyes. He was so tired, he could almost fall back asleep.

“Jesus, cumrag, you take it so easy,” Ed breathed in his ear as he thrust lazily in and out. “It’s like you were made for this.”

“Hmm.”

“Hey, don’t fall asleep,” Ed said, flicking him in the ear. 

Jason flinched at the sting. “Sorry,” he said, forcing his eyes back open.

“You like it when I fuck your tight little hole like this?” Ed groaned softly. “Feels good, doesn’t it, my cock in your ass?”

“Real good,” Jason agreed.

Ed leaned over his back and stuck two fingers into his mouth. Jason obligingly sucked on them. He tasted chemical lotion and salt mixing with the blood from his lip.

“God, that mouth,” Ed moaned. “Fucking cockslut. People think they know. They judge you like you got a choice. But they don’t know. They don’t see how you prance around here, shakin’ that ass in my face, begging me to fill you up. They don’t know how it feels. Like fucking coming home.” 

He groaned, thrusting harder, faster. “Gonna fill you up. No shower tomorrow. I want you to feel me sliding out of you all day at school. Remind you who owns your ass. You hear me?”

“Mmm,” Jason acknowledged around the fingers in his mouth. 

“Say it,” Ed said, taking his fingers out of Jason’s mouth to give his ass a stinging slap.

“I’m your cockslut cumrag,” Jason said, and as always, the shame settled deep in his bones.

“God yeah,” Ed moaned. He readjusted them, propping Jason up on his knees, and pushing his face into the carpet so he could grip his hips and force his way in deep. “Unh yeah, take it, slut,” he grunted, snapping his hips sharply and thrusting with abandon as he approached climax. 

Jason closed his eyes and took it. Ed eventually came, emptying himself into him like he’d promised. Jason didn’t really feel it. It was a little sore when Ed pulled out, and there was some wetness, but he was too exhausted to care much at that point.

He did make sure to thank Ed though before he promptly fell back asleep.

***

The next morning was rough. The interruption in his sleep had left him exhausted, and Celia had been up since the early hours screaming for whatever reason. His mother was on edge, and she was snapping at everyone, including Ed. 

Jason heard the sound of glass breaking and turned just in time to see Sheila scream at Celia, and slap her hard across the face.

“Mom!” he yelled, rushing to stop her. He picked Celia up and held her while she wailed. The kitchen floor was covered in oatmeal and bits of shattered ceramic.

“Then why don’t you fucking help for a change?” Sheila snapped, as though this was Jason’s fault. 

“What the fuck is going on out here?” Ed bellowed as he stomped out of the bathroom freshly showered. 

“What the hell does it look like?” Sheila said. 

Jason was halfway to the bedroom before he heard the slap and accompanying cry.

“Don’t you mouth off to me, bitch. Clean this shit up, what the hell?”

Jason closed the bedroom door on the ruckus. “Drama queen,” he muttered. As if Ed didn’t bitchslap him like that every night of the week and twice on Sundays. Didn’t see him crying about it.

He sat down on the bed with Celia in his lap and just held her until her wailing finally quieted to the occasional hiccupy sniffle. He sang softly to her in an effort to drown out the shouting, crying, stuff throwing tantrum happening in the kitchen. Ed must have been short on sleep too from the previous night’s activities.

Sometimes, in moments like these, Jason imagined what it would be like to turn Ed in to CPS. Ed would go to jail for what he’d done to them. Sheila would get help, or something. He was always a little fuzzy on what would happen to her. But the important thing was that Celia would get a good home, with stable parents who didn’t hit and yell at her all the time. He would go into foster care, but that was ok. He just had to put up with it for a few years, and then he’d be an adult, free to make his own choices. 

The fantasy never lasted too long though before his brain terminated it ruthlessly. Because the reality was, none of that was ever going to happen. Ed had connections. He’d been sent up the river on some assault charge about a year and a half ago. Jason had been ecstatic, until Ed got released just a couple months later on a technicality. He'd come home bragging about the 'vacation' he'd gotten from Sheila's nagging, and then fucked Jason raw. If Ed could beat serious raps like that, it wasn’t impossible to imagine Jason’s pissy CPS report falling on deaf ears. And if Ed ever found out it was him, he’d be dead. 

“Mama?” Celia said, looking up at him tearfully.

“Not right now,” Jason said. He couldn’t help but feel intensely sorry for her. When he was her age, he used to love Sheila too. But as the years wore on, and Sheila proved time and again that everything else in her life was more important to her than her children, his feelings had slowly eroded away. These days, all he could feel for her was contempt.

Not for the first time, he wondered why she didn’t just leave Ed. Say what you would about Jason’s father, but at least Willis hadn’t been a stone cold psycho. Willis hit you because he was angry. Ed _tortured_ you because it was fun. How could she not see that? She had the power to change things for all of them, if she wanted to. Well…maybe not all the power, Jason conceded. There were some limitations involved that he couldn’t ignore, mostly financial. Where would they go? How would they survive without Ed’s income? But…surely they’d find a way. Wasn’t it worth it, to be free of all this pain and suffering?

He frowned as something occurred to him. Who was he to judge her for wanting a roof over her head? Jason wasn’t much better, and now that Dick wouldn’t be paying him anymore, he was right back in the same boat again. The difference though was that he’d been willing to make that choice for himself. He would never put someone else through that for his benefit. Did Sheila care so little for him that his pain meant nothing to her? Not that she knew about what was going on between him and Ed, but she knew about the beatings, and wasn’t that bad enough?

A loud slam indicated Ed had finally left the house.

On cue, Sheila burst into the bedroom. “What are you doing in here?” 

“Watching her till you were done,” Jason said. He set Celia down on the bed and got up to leave.

“Some help you are!” Sheila snapped.

“What did you want me to do?” Jason said acidly. 

Hurt flashed across her face as fresh tears welled in her red-rimmed eyes. One of them was already starting to puff up. 

He knew what she’d wanted. She’d wanted him to defend her, maybe even take Ed’s beating for her. There was precedent, so she wasn’t exactly off base. But if she was going to be starting shit with Ed, then she could damn well suffer her own consequences. Jason had other shit to focus on now that didn’t involve getting the crap kicked out of him at every turn, particularly on her behalf.

Tears spilled over and tracked down her face. He almost felt sorry for her. 

“You’re such an asshole,” she spat.

Almost.

“I’m late for school,” Jason said, sliding past her and out into the living room.

“Don’t you walk away from me!” Sheila made a grab for his arm, but Jason evaded her hand and gave her a hard shove in return. Her back hit the doorframe with a thud. She gawked at him, shocked speechless, but not for long. “You little shit!” she spat. “You’re just like your fucking father!”

Jason’s entire body flushed hot as he realised what he’d done. “Better him than Ed,” he countered. 

“Hey, at least Ed takes care of us, which is more than I could ever say for Willis. Who do you think pays for all this shit, huh? The least you can do is show him some fucking respect. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so mad all the time,” Sheila said. 

Jason boggled at her. “You think this is _my_ fault? Are you out of your fucking mind?” he blurted. 

Sheila slapped him with a resounding smack. “Watch your mouth! I’m your mother!”

“The fuck you are!” Jason exploded, enraged by the sheer audacity of her. “Mothers don’t let their boyfriends fuck their kids! You know what you are, Sheila? You’re the other fucking woman!” The second it left his mouth, he knew he’d made a mistake. He sucked in a sharp breath as he felt his limbs begin to tremble. Holy shit. Holy shit holy shit holy shit. 

Sheila’s face drained of colour. “Liar! He would never touch Celia!” she hissed. 

Jason blinked uncomprehendingly. Then what she said actually registered, and he felt hot tears threaten. “I…I’m not talking about Celia,” he whispered into the deafening silence.

Sheila stared at him for a long moment before she exhaled with relief. In that moment, Jason hated her, more than he’d ever hated anyone in his life, even Ed. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?” she said, shaking her head with a snort. “Like I don’t got enough to deal with. What do you want, huh? Attention? You’re not a little kid anymore, Jase. Why don’t you grow the fuck up?”

Then she turned her back on him and went to the bedroom to get Celia, leaving Jason to stare after her in stunned disbelief. 

***

Jason shifted in his chair at the itching sensation in his ass. The cheap lotion irritated the sensitive skin there sometimes, on account of it wasn’t really intended for that purpose. He squirmed again and felt a little more wetness slide out of his ass and deposit a sticky patch on his boxer shorts. He realised now that Ed’s apparent act of charity had just been another way to control and manipulate him, because all that fucking lotion had been slowly leaking out of his ass all day. He wanted to ignore it, wanted so very much not to let Ed into his head, particularly after his blow out with Sheila this morning. But he was weak and stupid, and he couldn’t stop the waves of revulsion and shame from battering him to a pulp. 

Dick texted him during lunch, which surprised him, because he wasn’t expecting to hear from him so soon. After all, he’d only seen him yesterday.

“Hey,” he texted back.

“You free during the day on Saturday?”

Jason felt his heart beat faster. He was, shockingly. Ed and Sheila were usually gone all day and Ed was usually gone all night on Saturdays, which made it the best day of the week. No one would even miss him. 

“What time?” 

“Pick you up at noon?”

“Ok. Meet at diner?” Jason decided. The last thing he wanted to do was let Dick see where he lived.

“Ok.”

“Where we going?” Jason wanted to know.

“It’s a surprise.”

Jason frowned. He wasn’t a fan of surprises. He wasn’t a fan of any situation that he had to walk into blind, where people could just ambush him with shit that he wasn’t prepared for. He recognised that Dick was trying to be romantic, which was sweet, but if he didn’t know what was going to happen on Saturday, he was going to spend the next day and half freaking the fuck out.

“I don’t like surprises.” He finally texted. “Sorry.”

There was a long pause, and then, “It’s ok, I get it. Bruce hates surprises too. How do you feel about Coney Island?”

“Never been.” Jason had seen the adverts on TV though. Rides, games, cotton candy, hotdogs, funnel cake, the beach. It was like this magical place that, even though it was just on the other side of Gotham, was so inaccessible to him that it might as well have been on the moon. The thought of going there – of going there with Dick – was beyond anything he’d ever imagined.

“You’re gonna love it.” 

Jason grinned. “Can’t wait.” 

“Me too. See you Sat.”

“☺”

Jason spent the rest of the day doodling Ferris wheels in his notebook, and all of Ed and Sheila’s bullshit just sort of faded into the background like white noise.

***  
Jason startled awake the following morning when he heard dishes clattering around in the kitchen. He listened to Sheila prepare breakfast for herself and Celia. She seemed in a good mood this morning, talking to Celia, and making her giggle over her breakfast. Ed had come home in the early hours of the morning, (Jason had woken briefly when he heard the front door open) and gone straight to bed. He was still asleep now, so for once, the house was relatively quiet.

He felt his emotions churning and burning a hole in his stomach as she continued to laugh and play with the only child she actually cared about. He was so angry with her, but beyond that, he felt betrayed, abandoned. He’d always thought that if she ever found out, she would be outraged on his behalf. When he was younger, he’d fantasised about her putting a stop to it, finally standing up to Ed and leaving his ass. Never in a million years had he thought she would laugh in his face and call him a liar. He was so devastated by her flippant response, he didn’t even know what to do, or how to be around her now. 

He feigned sleep until she left, then got up to use the bathroom. He grimaced at the crusty mess in his boxers. He felt really fucking disgusting, but…Ed had told him not to shower yesterday. Did that mean he could shower today? He eyed the shower next to him. He could sneak one in now, but if Ed caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing, he’d catch hell. He sighed. In the spirit of keeping the peace – for Dick’s sake - he supposed he ought to ask permission. But when was that lazy fuck going to wake up? Jason had to go to school, he couldn’t just hang around all day waiting for Ed to get up. And no way was he going to wake Ed up, not if he valued his life.

His dilemma was solved when he exited the bathroom and found Ed foraging in the kitchen. Apparently he wasn’t the only one feigning sleep until Sheila left.

“Hey,” Jason said softly.

Ed leaned back against the counter and eyed him up and down. “Cumrag,” he said with a smirk.

Jason averted his gaze, feeling his face heat. “Um…can I shower now?”

Ed’s smirk widened into the most shit eating grin Jason had ever seen. “That feel good yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, trying to control his impatience. Did they have to play this game every fucking time?

Ed pushed off from the counter so he could crowd Jason against the fridge. “Yeah? You liked having my come in your ass all day, slut?” he murmured.

Jason nodded, keeping his eyes steadily on the floor.

"Look at me," Ed growled, giving one of his nipples a vicious twist through his threadbare t-shirt. 

Jason gasped, but he obediently met Ed's gaze. The sheer sadistic glee in his eyes was hard to take, especially after Sheila’s callous denial the day before. He’d never felt more alone, or helpless in the face of Ed’s omnipotent power.

“Who do you belong to?”

“You,” Jason whispered, shuddering as he felt it in his soul. 

Ed grinned. "And what's the magic word?"

"Please. Please can I shower," Jason said. 

Ed inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, his breath ghosting over Jason’s skin. “All right, go ahead. Shower up. I want you smelling fresh when I fill you up again tonight.”

Then he was gone, lumbering back to the bedroom with his bowl of cereal, and Jason finally let out the breath he’d been holding. Sometimes, it was hard to work out who he hated more - Ed, Sheila, or himself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter after a long delay, it's criminal I know! But if it helps, I've almost completed this fic now so I have more to post. It's just that this chapter could only be finalised after I'd finished a much later chapter so it couldn't be posted sooner. But anyway, thanks to everyone who has liked and commented, and who has stuck with me this far. I don't always answer comments because honestly, anxiety and stuff, but please know I treasure all of it and it really encourages me to keep going. Love you all! <3

Bruce held his tongue as he listened to Dick natter on endlessly about Coney Island, and whether Jason was going to like this thing or that thing better. Alfred carried on the conversation with him, which left Bruce free to brood.

To be honest, he was considerably less than thrilled with Dick’s decision to continue dating that...whatever he was. Was he homeless, was he not? Was he a whore, or was he not? Was he a drug addict, is that what the money was for? Who could even say with all that obfuscation, which was just too pervasive not to be deliberate. But he knew if he mentioned his concerns to Dick, it wouldn’t be well received. 

The way Dick carried on, it was clear he was infatuated with the boy, most likely lured in by the promise of easy sex. That in and of itself was irksome, but well, Dick was sixteen after all. It was bound to happen eventually. Bruce would just have been more comfortable if Dick’s first serious sexual relationship had been with someone a little more on par with Dick’s own level of experience. Maybe a classmate from Gotham Academy, or one of his teammates - not some drug addicted hooker who’d had more sexual partners than Bruce had had in over twice as many years of life. Not that Bruce had anything against hookers; he just didn’t want his virginal teenage son dating one. Was that really too much to ask?

Finally though, Dick seemed to have had enough of his silence.

“What, Bruce?” Dick snapped. “I can feel your disapproval from here. Do you not like Jason or something?”

“I don’t know him well enough to dislike him,” Bruce said carefully. 

“But?” Dick prompted. “Come on, I know you’re itching to say something. Just spit it out!”

Bruce sighed. “No buts. Like I said, I don’t know him. And frankly, neither do you.”

“I know he’s nice, and he likes me, and I like him,” Dick said in that challenging tone that let Bruce know they were in for a rough ride.

Well, Bruce wasn’t one to shrink from a challenge. “Do you know why he’s trading sex out of a soup kitchen?”

“That was just a misunderstanding!” Dick said. 

“ _Your_ misunderstanding, not his. He knew exactly what he was doing,” Bruce said. “Just because you weren’t interested in paying for it doesn’t mean he’s not peddling his ass to willing customers all over town.”

“Really, Bruce?” Dick rolled his eyes. “Jason and I talked about it, and he’s not going to do it anymore, all right? That was his first and last time.”

“Is _that_ what he told you?” Bruce snorted. “Even you can’t be that gullible.”

Dick glared at him. “Just because you’re a paranoid misanthrope who doesn’t trust anyone doesn’t mean everyone’s lying.”

“Actually, that’s exactly what it means,” Bruce snapped. “But fine, say he’s telling the truth. Let’s game this out. Now, I’d stake my life it wasn’t his last time, but I’m willing to stipulate it might’ve been his first. If that’s the case, then what did he need money for so badly that he was willing to sell himself to get it? Does he have a drug problem?”

“What? No!” Dick said, looking rather nonplussed by the idea. “I…I don’t know what the money’s for, but he’s not on drugs! I’d know if he was.”

It was Bruce’s turn to roll his eyes. “Sure you would. But fine, let’s say he’s not. Is the money for rent, food, bills? What exactly is his living situation? Where are his parents in all this?”

“He lives in an apartment in the Narrows, with his mom,” Dick said.

“Who is a…?”

Dick huffed. “I don’t know, and I don’t care, because I’m not into classist bullshit!”

“Language!” Alfred tutted, though neither of them paid him any attention. 

“It’s classist to know basic information about a person you’re fucking?” Bruce sneered.

“Master Bruce!”

“I’m not _fucking_ him!” Dick hissed in outrage. “We’re dating, and we have a connection, and-”

“Apparently such an amazing connection that you don’t know the first thing about him!” Bruce interrupted. “Where’s his father in this equation? Does he have siblings? If he’s got a home, then why does he eat at a soup kitchen? Hooker or not, he’s clearly had high risk sex with enough people that he felt the need to get an STD check. How many partners has he had? Were they all men? Is he gay? Is he bi? Where does he-”

“I don’t know, all right?” Dick shouted. “But maybe it doesn’t matter, because…because I really like him!”

Bruce took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose. “These things matter, Dick. Knowledge is power.”

“See, that’s the difference between us,” Dick said. “I don’t _want_ power over him, and I’m not gonna interrogate him like a criminal, or massively violate his privacy by digging up stuff on him, just to get it. He'll tell me when he's ready, when he trusts me, and that's the only kind of power I want!”

Bruce sighed. “That boy is trouble, Dick, and you know it. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Yeah well, maybe that’s my mistake to make,” Dick said finally.

Bruce pressed his lips together in tacit disapproval. 

Dick sighed. “You don’t have to like it. Just…please stay out of it.”

“Just remember that some mistakes stay with you forever – not unlike some STDs!” Bruce growled. Then he got up from the table and stalked out of the room. 

***

It didn’t take Bruce long to find the information he was looking for. He started with the records library, and the birth certificate for one Jason Todd.

Born: Gotham City  
Age: 14  
Mother: Sheila Haywood  
Father: Willis Todd

Willis Todd  
Status: Deceased

Sheila Haywood  
Born: Gotham City  
Age: 32  
Children: Jason Todd, Celia Hunter

Celia Hunter  
Born: Gotham City  
Age: 2  
Mother: Sheila Haywood  
Father: Edward Hunter

Bruce narrowed his eyes. Edward Hunter. Why did that ring a bell? He switched to his database and typed in the name. He shook his head at the name that came up. Edward “Edge” Hunter. Bruce remembered him now. A smart, sadistic, ruthless bruiser of a man and one of Dent’s high level enforcers. His rap sheet was a mile long – assault, intimidation, racketeering, gun running – just to name a few. 

Batman had had a run in with him once – hence the database entry. One of Matches’ informants Johnny G, a low level bag man in Dent’s organisation, had disappeared off the radar. Batman had gone looking for him. He’d found Hunter ‘interrogating’ him with a bat. He’d strung Johnny from the ceiling, hanging him by his neck so that his feet could barely touch the ground, and tortured him for hours with a hunting knife. Then he’d finished off by whacking him with a bat like a piñata. Hunter had gone to jail, but it wasn’t much of a sentence because, well, Gotham. That, and Johnny had lived, so it was just assault, rather than murder. Apparently it hadn’t mattered that Johnny got to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. It mattered to Bruce though. He’d always regretted not following up on it after Hunter was released, but Scarecrow had been back in town with a new brand of fear toxin and Batman had been far too busy to worry about thugs like Hunter. 

He switched over to Blackgate’s parolee database, and found Hunter’s most recently recorded address. It was in the Narrows – very close to the soup kitchen where Dick volunteered. The clincher was the next of kin, listed as one Sheila Haywood. 

“So not just living with mom,” Bruce muttered. Why would the boy leave that out? Did he have something to hide, like his involvement in Hunter’s criminal activities? 

Bruce knew that kids in the Narrows got recruited into low level crime all the time. They started young, and moved their way up the food chain, probably much like Hunter had, judging from his rap sheet. Was he grooming the boy to join Dent’s organisation? But if that was the case, then what was all that malarkey about the prostitution and the money? Kids like that were usually flush with easy money – that was what drew them in. 

Speaking of prostitution, Bruce also wanted to know how many other “clients” the boy was servicing. If Dick hadn’t been so damned blinded with lust, he’d realise that the kid was lying through his teeth. Bruce wished he knew how to explain, how to make Dick see just how dangerous it was to get involved with someone like that, the kind of risks it exposed him to – infection, betrayal, heartbreak. Not to mention violence and depravity on a much more intimate level than any Dick had experienced before. Bruce had always tried hard to shield him from that, even in his role as Robin, and just like that, this boy was going to rob Dick of what little innocence he had left.

“Gold digging whore,” he muttered. 

Of lesser importance were the reputational risks involved, which Dick might not be as sensitive to, but which Bruce had been trained since birth to guard against. He had always known that Dick liked showing off - it was the performer in him. But sex in a public bathroom? Christ on a cracker. If this is what Bruce was going to have to put up with over the next few months, he was going to have a coronary before the age of 40. "Wayne heir found with hooker in bathroom" was not a Gazette headline he wanted to wake up to. If Jason was introducing Dick to that kind of behaviour then he had to go, and if Dick refused to do it, then Bruce would. He was Dick’s father now, and he was going to protect him, whether Dick liked it or not.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to post this before I lose my nerve. Please don't hate me. *hides* If it makes you feel any better, the next chapter is a nice one.
> 
> Also, I've updated the tags.

Jason glanced nervously at the front door for a second before he went to the bathroom to retrieve his mom’s round handled hairbrush. She was out doing god knows what, and he’d put Celia to bed not long ago, so for a blissful moment, he was all alone. 

He put the toilet lid down and sat on it. Then he took several deep breaths, braced himself, and stuck the brush handle into his mouth. He pushed it back further and further until he felt it touch the back of his throat. He felt the spasms building but he clenched down on them, refusing to allow them to ramp up into an actual gag. After a few seconds he pulled the brush out a little and breathed deeply. He’d been practicing on his own whenever he had a chance since Ed threatened him. It was so humiliating having to practice deepthroating cock, but he didn’t know what else to do. He really didn’t want to fail again. Who knew what Ed would do to him if he did. Clearly his mother wasn’t going to save him, so what choice did he have?

He did it again, and again, forcing himself to take the foreign object deeper and deeper. Only when he’d managed to hold it there and wriggle it around a little without gagging did he finally feel like he could stop for the day. His throat was sore, but it would be worth it if it helped him avoid a beating. His eyes were on the prize, and the prize was worth any amount of humiliation.

Returning to the living room, he curled up in his corner and read a book for school, trying hard to stay present and savour the rare moment to himself, instead of focusing on Ed’s promised fucking tonight.

***

Ed came home late. Jason felt his entire body go painfully rigid with tension as soon as he walked in the door. He squeezed his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep, although he knew it wouldn’t work. Ed had made his plans for the evening crystal clear - what did it matter whether Jason was asleep or not?

He heard Ed banging around in the kitchen, the clink of ice, the glug of a bottle. Great, he was already on to the hard stuff. Jason hoped that meant he was too drunk to have sex, or maybe he would just do it really quickly and fall asleep. Wishful thinking, he knew.

“I know you ain’t asleep,” Ed grunted as he sat down on the couch with his drink. “Get your ass over here.”

Jason sighed and got up.

“Uh uh,” Ed said, snapping his fingers at him.

Jason gritted his teeth, but he got down on all fours and crawled over to the couch. By the time he got over there, Ed had already freed himself from his pants and was stroking himself lightly.

“Go slow,” Ed instructed. Then he lit a cigarette and took a long drag on it before tilting his head back and blowing the smoke up to the ceiling.

Jason battled a wave of dismay. Apparently it wouldn’t be quick after all. He licked up the length of Ed’s cock and slowly worked him over, teasing him with his tongue and lips the way Ed liked it. Ed sighed in contentment. He threaded his fingers through Jason’s hair, but he didn’t yank or pull. Mostly he just sort of nudged him in one direction or another. Jason was pleasantly surprised, and found himself working harder just to keep Ed happy and docile.

At length, Ed pulled him off his cock. “That’s enough. Table, now.”

Jason pulled down his pants and bent over the low coffee table, fingers gripping the edge. It was actually one of the more comfortable positions, as it precluded Ed from smashing his face into the ground. 

Ed stuck two fingers into Jason’s mouth. They tasted a bit of whisky and cigarettes, but it wasn’t too unpleasant. He licked and sucked on them, making sure to coat them liberally with saliva. When he judged that was enough, Ed pushed both fingers unceremoniously into Jason’s ass. Jason exhaled slowly at the sudden intrusion. The saliva wasn’t really enough lubrication to make it comfortable, but he forced himself to relax and take it as it came. 

“Loving this, aren’t you, slut?” Ed said as he roughly worked his fingers in and out.

“Yeah,” Jason said.

Ed exhaled a stream of smoke into the air and promptly put out his cigarette butt on the cleft of Jason’s ass.

Jason gave a hoarse shout. He’d been expecting it since Ed first lit up the smoke, but the location was a novel (and fucking painful) surprise. 

“Quiet! You wake your sister up and you’re gonna be sorry,” Ed threatened as he tossed the cigarette butt into one of the empty beer cans littering the floor. 

“S-sorry,” Jason said as he breathed heavily through the pain. 

Ed spread his cheeks to inspect the burn. The added tension pulled on it, making Jason hiss through his teeth. “That hurt?”

“Yeah,” Jason gritted, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. Of course it fucking hurt, what did that evil shitbag think, that it felt good or something?

“Tell you what, I know what'll help." Ed went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Jason heard the clink of ice and assumed he was topping up his drink. 

A cold wet drip on his ass was his only warning before a freezing ice cube rubbed against the raw burn. Jason almost jumped out of his skin, though he managed to bite back a yelp of surprise.

“That feel good?” 

“Yeah,” Jason said automatically, though he was surprised to realise that once the ice melted a little, it was actually true. The numbing cold did sort of help to soothe the angry burn. But he stilled in apprehension when Ed started to move the ice cube around. His body tensed up at the foreign sensation of icy cold sliding down his crack and rubbing against his entrance. He gripped the table hard in an effort not to flinch away, forcing himself to endure the horrible freezing sting against his sensitive hole in silence. Unfortunately, quiet was not an option when Ed tried to press the ice cube into him. “No!” he gasped, reflexively twisting out of Ed's reach and causing him to drop the slippery cube.

“The fuck you say to me?” Ed snarled, yanking his head up by his hair. 

Jason winced. “N-nothing..." 

“You're damn right nothing," Ed said. Then he reached into the glass for a fresh cube and pressed it hard against Jason's entrance. 

Jason cried out at the cold burn, instinctively fighting Ed's hold. With a growl, Ed slammed him down onto the table, knocking the wind out of him. 

“You better cut that shit out before you really piss me off. You're gonna shut the fuck up and take it, you hear me?"

Jason whimpered, knowing that try as he might, he probably wouldn’t be able to follow that command. The freezing cold sting was just too damn much. Ed must have realised it too, because after a moment, he lifted Jason up slightly and slid something underneath him. Jason was confused for a second until he felt the belt pull tight around his waist. Ed gave the belt a firm tug. “There, that’s better, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, though he really wasn’t sure it was.

Ed ran the ice cube over the burn and down between his cheeks again. This time, when Jason tried to flinch away, Ed just jerked back on the belt till the ice was flush against his entrance again.

“Nnn-!” Jason covered his mouth to silence the protest. But his brain was broadcasting panic signals, flooding his veins with adrenaline, and he couldn’t seem to stop himself from trying to squirm away. Thankfully, with Ed restraining him with the belt, he couldn’t get far. But then his traitorous hand reached back and tried to push the ice away, almost of its own accord. Ed grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. 

“You do that again and I’ll break your fucking arm,” Ed warned, wrenching his arm painfully in a direction it clearly wasn’t meant to go. 

“Ah! I’m sorry!” Jason cried. Ed let go of his wrist, and Jason quickly gripped the table edge to show Ed how hard he was trying to be good. In a moment, the ice was back, teasing at his hole, and he started to shake at the thought of how much it was going to hurt if – when - Ed managed to get it inside him.

"You know you want it, slut,” Ed sneered. “Go on, beg me for it.”

“Please,” Jason whimpered. Shame, hot and familiar, settled over him like a thick blanket. “Please…”

“That's it,” Ed urged. Then with a firm push, he shoved the ice cube into him.

Jason shrieked, but Ed was ready and he clamped his hand over his mouth to muffle his cries. Ed held him tightly against his chest in an almost comforting embrace as Jason writhed and whimpered at the cold, hard burn inside him. It only lasted a minute or two before it melted, leaking disgustingly out of him to run down his leg. 

“You like that, cumrag?” Ed breathed into his ear, the smell of whisky and cigarettes filling the intimate space between them. He removed his hand from Jason’s mouth to let him answer. But Jason couldn’t force himself to say the words, and his only response was a pathetic snivelling sound.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ed said. “You want more?” 

" _Please nn-_ " Jason just about managed to bite down on the protest before it left his lips. 

"That’s right, slut. You’ll take anything in that greedy hole of yours, won’t you?" Ed mocked. 

“Y-yeah,” Jason whispered, knowing in his heart of hearts just how true that was. He closed his eyes and finally felt his body surrender. He let Ed press him down onto the table and hold him there with a hand between his shoulder blades. This time, Ed didn’t bother with the teasing and the aborted attempts. He just grabbed two cubes from the glass and rammed them right in.

Jason gasped and cried as the burning cold seared him from the inside out. He clawed so hard at the fake wood he left marks in it. And then Ed’s cock was in his ass, pushing the freezing cubes deeper into him.

“God, that’s fucking amazing,” Ed groaned, thrusting viciously into him, the cold ice water a poor lubrication at best. He jerked back on the belt with every thrust, forcing Jason back onto his cock so that he could push in that much deeper.

By then Jason was trembling violently from the cold, his senses overloaded from the intensity of it all. It was a relief when Ed came not long after, filling him up just like he’d promised earlier in the day. 

When Ed pulled out, a gush of come and water leaked out with him, running down the inside of Jason’s thigh. Ed scraped the flat of his hand up his leg to collect some of it.

“Open.”

Jason cringed at the command, shaking his head despite the potential consequences. But Ed just grabbed him by the throat and proceeded to smear the contents of his hand all over Jason's mouth and a good portion of his face. Jason gagged a couple of times, but he managed to hold it together. 

“You really are disgusting, aren’t you?” Ed sneered.

Jason shuddered. "I’m sorry.”

Ed laughed. “You should be.”

“P-please c-can I clean it off?”

Ed eyed him for a moment before he said, “You can wash your face, but no shower, not until I say so.”

Jason’s heart sank.

Ed smirked at his reaction. “What do you say?”

“Thank you,” Jason whispered.

***

Jason woke early on Saturday morning to the sound of buzzing in his ear. He’d set the vibrate alarm on the booty call phone so he could get up without waking the whole house up. The house was quiet apart from the sound of Ed’s snoring coming from the bedroom.

He didn’t want to think about what happened last night, about what Ed did to him, and what a snivelling disgusting wreck he’d been afterwards. He’d scrubbed his skin till it was raw, but could swear he could still feel and smell that foetid stench of dried come from his ass coating his face. It had taken a long time to cry himself to sleep.

Years of putting up with Ed's bullshit and it never got any easier. Every time he thought he had a handle on it, Ed would do something new, and it’d feel just like the first time all over again. He’d be gripped by that same visceral terror, humiliation turning him inside out. It was his fault, he knew. If he was just…better, somehow, maybe Ed wouldn’t be compelled to do this to him. Or maybe if he was stronger, he’d be able to handle it better. After all, what was the big deal about last night? The cigarette burn – surely he was used to that by now, location notwithstanding. And the ice? That was just a bit of frozen water. When he thought objectively about it, it hadn’t hurt so much as it was just cold. He was sore today, but it was mostly from the rough fucking and lack of lubricant, rather than the ice itself. He didn’t even bleed. 

“Stop being such a baby,” he growled under his breath.

Besides, he had more immediate problems to focus on. Namely, that there was once again a moratorium on showering. Except that no way was he going on his date with Dick streaked with dried come water and reeking of sex like a disgusting whore. Honestly, that was probably a disservice to whores. No one could possibly be as disgusting as him. He was so fucking over the no washing thing, it wasn’t even funny.

He held his breath and listened long and hard. Ed’s snoring was deep and steady. Now was his chance. He got up and tiptoed to the bathroom, shutting the door silently. He was just going to be quick – 5 minutes, and he’d be out. 

“No problem,” he said, trying to reassure himself with the sound of his own voice. "It’s ok. It’s gonna be ok.”

Sheila had some clothes hanging up on the shower rail, so he took them off and hung them on the towel rack. Then he turned on the shower and glanced at the door, straining to hear any noise beyond the sound of rushing water. He fought down a surge of terror. “You’re ok, Jay. You’re gonna be fine. Five minutes. Just five minutes."

He checked the water temp, but it was still cold. He knew from experience that it could take a few minutes to heat up – minutes he didn’t have. With a deep breath, he stripped off his clothes and just jumped in. The cold shocked him with its intensity, but he ignored it, reaching for the shampoo and scrubbing it into his hair. By the time he was rinsing his hair, the water was warm, and his shivering started to subside. He swiped the soap over himself, making sure to clean thoroughly in all the most crucial spots. His burn stung like a bitch, but he ignored it. He was almost home free. He rinsed quickly, figuring that if there was soap left, he could just wipe it off with the towel. He shut off the water and pushed aside the shower curtain to grab his towel. 

“Whatcha doin, boy?” Ed drawled, leaning casually against the sink.

Jason yelped and dropped the towel. He was trapped, wet and naked, with nothing to defend himself and nowhere to run or hide. 

Ed lunged for him. Jason tried to bolt, but he slipped in the wet tub. Ed caught him by the throat and slammed the back of his head into the tile wall. He struggled to break free, kicking and flailing at his assailant, but his arms and legs just weren’t long enough to do much damage. After bashing his head against the tiles a few more times, Ed let him go. Jason dropped to the bottom of the tub, dazed and coughing.

Ed was back a moment later with one of the wire hangers from Sheila’s clothes. 

Jason’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry,” he pleaded, holding his hands up defensively. 

“Believe me, you’re gonna be,” Ed growled.


End file.
